Manchester United and Chelsea will be protecting their one-goal leads next week as they travel to extremely difficult places to get a result.  Both the San Siro and Anfield are European fortresses and AC Milan and Liverpool will feel confident they can use their ability to rest players over the weekend and home support to overturn the opposition next week. 

However, the real story coming out of both first-leg semi-finals was the goalkeeping.  Two of the keepers put on master-class performances. The other pair were dreadful and looked unprepared to step up on the big stage.

Milan's Dida turned in an atrocious performance by a keeper at this level.  While the own goal was embarrassing, his positioning on that particular set piece and all others was dreadful.  Then, after watching his teammates fight for 90 minutes for a 2-2 draw to take back to Italy, he was beaten near post by Wayne Rooney.  It was a fabulous effort by Rooney to be sure, but Dida's positioning was again questionable and to fall asleep in the final seconds of the match was inexcusable. 

'Petr Cech and Pepe Reina were as excellent as Dida and Van der Sar were pathetic'


Remember the last time Dida was in a Champions League match of this significance was the final in Istanbul of 2005.  That game will forever be remembered for Liverpool's resilience in the face of a three-goal deficit.  But it should really be remembered for Dida's mismanagement on the Steven Gerrard and Vladimir Smicer goals.

Edwin Van der Sar should not escape criticism, either.  The runs Kaka made that resulted in his two goals can be credited to the Brazilian's natural ability and poor United defending.  But Van der Sar looked frozen on both attempts.  Why did the United keeper not dive or flail himself at either shot?  While the actual takes were impressive feats of skill, the placement and velocity were not necessarily of equal endeavour. 

Alex Ferguson has to feel that with a Champions League winning keeper at his disposal in Van der Sar, he has an upper hand in every match United play.  However, with Ben Foster out on loan at Watford facing a barrage of shots every match, the youngster could be called back sooner rather than later.

In the other tie, Petr Cech and Pepe Reina were as excellent as Dida and Van der Sar were pathetic. Liverpool should be thanking their lucky stars they are even still in the tie going to Anfield.  Were it not for some of the finest saves of the season by Reina, Chelsea would be carrying a three-goal advantage to the return leg.

Liverpool's Spanish keeper was under constant assault as his defence could not handle Didier Drogba and Joe Cole. He'll have good reason to be concerned knowing that Michael Essien will be back for the second leg. Drogba should not have had such an easy run down the wing as he completed the pass to Cole that resulted in the goal. Nor should Cole have been allowed to charge so easily into the box.  The normally-assured Liverpool defence looked out of sorts all night and Reina should be commended for his efforts. 

Cech did not face the level of attack his counterpart in keeping did, but that isn't to say he was any less spectacular when called upon. His positioning was perfect on all the set pieces and he made Liverpool's attempts look ordinary.  Jose Mourinho will be confident that Cech will not concede two goals next week. 

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