Manchester United claimed the early edge in the all-English Champions League quarterfinal against Chelsea as Wayne Rooney continued his eventful week with the only goal in London on Wednesday.
The England striker, who is seeking to have his two-match ban for swearing at television cameras reduced, followed up his hat-trick against West Ham on Saturday with a vital away strike midway through the first half.
United, who beat Chelsea on penalties in the 2008 final of Europe's premier club competition, were lucky not to concede last-gasp penalty when Patrice Evra brought down Ramires in the penalty area.
"I think everybody saw what happened, you can see clearly on the TV," Chelsea goaklkeeper Petr Cech told reporters. "But the most important person did not see it.
"We lost the game and we have left ourselves a mountain to climb but we have to do it. I think we created chances and that was the key. They had their first chance and scored and we had some but we didn't score, and that's the difference."
Evra was the visitors' savior in first-half injury-time when he cleared Frank Lampard's shot off the line after Fernando Torres flicked a cross from strike partner Didier Drogba against the United post.
Coach Carlo Ancelotti, in his 100th game in charge of Chelsea, had opted to start $80 million signing Torres alongside Ivory Coast star Drogba after previously alternating the duo.
United looked more solid at the back with former England captain Rio Ferdinand returning from injury, but Drogba forced a fine save from goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar in the 19th minute before Rooney put United ahead as he finished off a superb move.
Midfielder Michael Carrick found Ryan Giggs wide on the left with a sweeping crossfield pass, and the 37-year-old showed sublime control before reaching the byline and cutting the ball back for Rooney, who slotted a low shot in off the right-hand post in the 24th minute.
Rooney will find out on Thursday if his appeal is successful -- if not he will miss the FA Cup final against Manchester City in two weekends' time.
Chelsea, whose only chance of silverware this season is to win the European crown that billionaire owner Roman Abramovich so craves, should have equalized on halftime but Evra came to Van der Sar's rescue to deny Lampard -- who scored in the Moscow final three years ago.
With 16 minutes to play, the 40-year-old Van der Sar boosted his hopes of playing another final before retiring when he made a fine save to keep out a header by Torres, who has still not scored since leaving Liverpool at the end of January.
Barcelona beat shakhtar donetsk 5-1
Barcelona beat shakhtar donetsk 5-1
By Jonathan Stevenson |
Barcelona produced a Champions League masterclass as they took a giant stride towards the semi-finals by crushing Shakhtar Donetsk at the Camp Nou.
The superb Andres Iniesta slotted them ahead before his majestic pass enabled Dani Alves to take a touch and prod in.
Gerard Pique's shot deflected in off Yaroslav Rakitskiy but Rakitskiy turned a cross in as Shakhtar pulled one back.
However, Barca were rampant and Seydou Keita hit an unstoppable fourth before Xavi tapped in late on to wrap it up.
Barca must still survive the second leg in Ukraine on Tuesday to complete their passage into the last four and if they do, they will almost certainly meet their great rivals Real Madrid, who dismantled Spurs 4-0 in their first leg.
That would set up the mouth-watering prospect of four El Clasicos in the space of little more than two weeks, with the clubs also due to meet in La Liga on Saturday 16 April and in the Spanish Cup final on Wednesday 20 April.
Barca coach Pep Guardiola had warned his side about the threat of Shakhtar prior to kick-off, revealing he did not have a "good feeling" about the prospect of playing Mircea Lucescu's outfit.
 Alves gets the better of Pyatov to score Barca's second goal |
Iniesta will have calmed his coach's nerves, though as he gave Barca a dream start with the hosts' first attack of the contest.
Lionel Messi's through ball was intended for David Villa but when the ball broke off a defender into the path of Iniesta, he took full advantage, haring into the box and coolly firing past Andriy Pyatov.
Despite falling behind so early, Shakhtar gave a good account of themselves in the opening stages, with Willian's pace down the left testing Alves and Luiz Adriano posing a constant problem as the focal point of the visitors' attacks.
Willian's cross-shot forced Victor Valdes to smartly tip over and then Douglas Costa sent Adriano clean through, the 23-year-old wastefully toe-poking his golden opportunity wide from 12 yards.
Barca were not in the mood to be lenient and after Messi curled a 30-yard free-kick narrowly wide and forced Pyatov to catch his cheeky chip, they doubled their advantage.
It was chiefly thanks to the brilliance of Iniesta once more as he clipped an outrageous diagonal pass into the path of Alves, who took a superb touch to take it round Pyatov and with the outside of his right foot flick the ball into the net.
Lucescu's half-time teamtalk must have focused on damage limitation, but against a Barca team committed to wave after wave of attack and with a monopoly on possession it was an almost impossible task.
Messi fired a volley into the arms of Pyatov before the third duly arrived, Pique pulling away from his marker to direct a Xavi corner goalwards from 15 yards, the ball flying in off the unfortunate Rakitskiy.
Shakhtar were allowed one flicker of hope when Iniesta picked up a booking for encroachment that rules him out of the second leg and, when the free-kick was eventually taken, Rakitskiy beat a batch of Barca players to the ball and sent it past Valdes.
But their renewed optimism was dashed less than a minute later as Messi raced up the other end and teed up Keita just inside the Shakhtar box, the Mali midfielder crashing a magnificent left-foot drive into the roof of Pyatov's net.
With the job all but done, Barca played keep-ball from then on, though there was time for Shakhtar's Adriano to hit the post with a shot from a narrow angle.
