Stunning Ronaldo sends Manchester tumbling out

LONDON: It’s Real Madrid vs. Italy for the Champions Cup football title. Thanks to a stunning Ronaldo hat-trick, nine-time winners and defending champions Madrid survived a 4-3 loss at Manchester United to advance to the semifinal 6-5 on aggregate.

And AC Milan, champion five times, joined fellow Serie A giants Juventus and Inter Milan in the final four by edging four-time titlists Ajax Amsterdam 3-2 thanks to an injury time winner by Danish striker Jon Dahl Tomasson. In the semi-finals, to be staged May 6 and 14, Madrid will face Italian champions and league leaders Juventus, who ousted Barcelona on Tuesday. In the other matchup, AC Milan face San Siro neighbours Inter Milan, who knocked out Valencia on Tuesday, on May 7 and 13. Madrid and AC Milan have home advantage in the first legs and the final is at Manchester United’s Old Trafford ground May 28. The appearance of three Italian clubs in the last four ends a drought for Serie A which hasn’t had a semifinalist since Juventus in 1999. Three seasons ago, three Spanish clubs — Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia  —  made it to the semifinals and Madrid beat Valencia in the final.

At Old Trafford, Madrid added to their 3-1 first leg advantage when Ronaldo ended a slick, end-to-end move to score in the 12th minute. Ruud van Nistelrooy levelled for the Reds two minutes before half time but Ronaldo scored his second five minutes after the break. An own goal by Ivan Helguera, who deflected in a cross by Juan Sebastian Veron, made it 2-2 before Ronaldo went on a solo run from deep and ended it with a 25-yard shot in the 59th minute That put the defending champions 6-3 ahead overall by the time England captain David Beckham, surprisingly left on the bench, entered the match. He responded with a 25-yard free kick to make it 3-3 and scrambled the winner on the night after Van Nistelrooy and Ryan Giggs had opened up the Madrid defence. United manager Alex Ferguson paid tribute to Ronaldo.

“The third goal was a marvellous strike,” said the Scot who now misses out on a final at his club’s own Old Trafford Stadium. “You can’t legislate for someone who can produce that and that’s why they are regarded as the top players in the world.” The Brazilian World Cup star deflected the praise to all his teammates. “The team played with quite a lot of intelligence, and we all had a great match and made a strong effort,” he said. “It is everyone’s success, not just mine for scoring.” At San Siro, Milan and Ajax went into the match tied 0-0 from the first leg in Amsterdam and Filippo Inzaghi broke the deadlock in the 30th minute. Finnish forward Jari Litmanen levelled for Ajax and, although Ukrainian striker Andriy Shevchenko restored Milan’s lead, South African midfielder Steven Pienaar, made it 2-2 with 12 minutes to go. It looked as if Ajax would win on away goals but substitute Tomasson netted Milan’s winner in injury time.