Sir Alex Ferguson celebrates after Wayne Rooney scores
his first goal to put Manchester United 2-1 ahead. Photograph:
Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters
Sir Alex Ferguson admitted his Manchester United side could "have
been two or three down" as he reflected on their poor start to a
night that ultimately ended in huge satisfaction for the Premier
League champions.
"The first goal, with the deflection, was a bad goal for us and
it took 15 to 20 minutes for us to get our composure back," the
United manager said. "Oh God, it was a catalogue of mistakes. That
first 20 was a bad period for us. We could have lost a few
goals. It was a good start for them and took us a long time to get
going. I don't think we deserved to be level at half-time but we
were, and in the second half we were fantastic."
Ferguson identified Paul Scholes's equaliser late in the first
half as the moment the game swung in United's favour but warned
that his team "could not think for one minute" that their place in
the quarter-finals was guaranteed. "A game of football always
carries risks and the important thing for us is to play at our
level. We are going to try to win the match at Old Trafford."
There was, however, a sense that Milan had blown their opportunity
considering the number of chances they had to increase their lead
when the score was 1-0. "We did really well in the first half and
if we had taken our chances, it would have been a different game,"
said David Beckham, who played for 72
minutes before being substituted. "The thing is that when you play
against a team like Manchester United, you have to score the goals
when you have the chances."
Ferguson went on to acknowledge that Ronaldinho had shown he was
"back to his best" and admitted that Rafael had found the former
world footballer of the year a "difficult handful". He added: "The
reason I played him was quite simple, namely that we have invested
in a great future and we were not going to stop the rewards of that
because we were playing AC Milan.
"He has to learn, against Ronaldinho, that this is the real
world. He [Rafael] made some mistakes, but he won't make them next
season. He will eradicate those mistakes because the boy is an
outstanding talent."
The downside for United came in the form of Michael Carrick's
red card. "Michael was sent off for apparently wasting time,"
Ferguson said. "I didn't notice it at the time and I thought he was
booking [Patrice] Evra. It is unfortunate. It is one of those soft
sending-offs that has left the referee with no option. He [Carrick]
was just rolling the ball away, but it has been deemed he was
wasting time."