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Ronaldo misses penalty as United draw blank against Barca

23/04/2008

Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty as Manchester United drew 0-0 with Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final at the Nou Camp.

The Portuguese winger, who has scored 38 goals this season, clipped his spot-kick wide in the second minute.

But Sir Alex Ferguson's side will be satisfied with a draw after being outplayed by the Spanish giants.

United's fluent passing deserted them but they wasted a golden chance to grab an away goal when Gabriel Milito was penalised for blocking Ronaldo's header with his hand.

After Ronaldo's penalty miss Frank Rijkaard's side dominated possession and created 21 shots in the match, while United had just one shot on target.

The visitors defended well with only a last-ditch challenge from Wayne Rooney denying Samuel Eto'o when the striker was put through on 25 minutes.

Barcelona were led by the mercurial Lionel Messi, who threaded a ball through to Eto'o on the half hour mark but the Cameroon striker's shot deflected into Edwin van der Sar's arms.

It was then Rio Ferdinand's turn to produce a last-gasp challenge to deny Eto'o on the stroke of half time.

In stoppage time, Rafael Marquez was booked for tripping Ronaldo and will miss next Tuesday's second leg at Old Trafford.

The home side continued to enjoy the lion's share of possession in the second half with full-back Gianluca Zambrotta's pile-driver tipped over by van der Sar.

A sublime move involving Messi and Andres Iniesta led to Eto'o smashing a shot into the side-netting on 52 minutes.

Two minutes later, United's best chance fell to Michael Carrick who rode a challenge before hitting a low show into the side-netting.

The Nou Camp burst into applause when Messi, who recently returned from a six-week injury layoff, was replaced by teenager Bojan Krkic.

Barcelona will feel they should have been awarded a penalty when Patrice Evra hauled down Iniesta, but the referee waved play on.

But United had their own penalty appeals turned down when Ronaldo appeared to be barged in the box by Marquez.

Both sides made attacking changes for the final 15 minutes with Ferguson taking off the ineffective Rooney for Nani, while the Catalan giants brought on Thierry Henry in place of Deco.

Henry came agonisingly close to making an instant impact when the Frenchman cut inside and unleashed a ferocious shot that flew inches wide.

In the dying minutes Henry tried an ambitious lob which van der Sar saved, as United held on for a draw.