Ronaldo Fluffs Penalty But United Hold Firm

These teams could give stalemates a good name. Barcelona, in particular, had much of their old panache and it is their absence of a lethal touch that puts Manchester United in good heart for the return leg at Old Trafford on Tuesday. Having seen Cristiano Ronaldo waste a penalty at the very start, the visitors will be pleased with their durability on a night when injuries led to a rejigged line-up.

The altered defence did well and Edwin van der Sar hardly needed to be spectacular in goal, although his reaction to a free-kick by the substitute Thierry Henry was impressive. A goalless draw, though, leaves the balance of a tie undisturbed and United must rue the chance that eluded them to notch an immediate away goal.

Ronaldo has been an inspiration to United all season long but here he gave Barça a fillip with that squandered penalty in the third minute. The Portuguese had got his head to a corner kick and the flustered Gabriel Milito handled the ball. It was more likely a surfeit of confidence rather than self-doubt that made the Portuguese attempt to float the spot-kick into the top corner and instead miss the target.

Barcelona were the sucker who had just been given an even break. That would normally be an insulting characterization of Frank Rijkaard's team but fans will consider it too mild a term on the basis of La Liga results. Desultory as Barcelona have generally been, the scale of the talent was never in question. The visitors, to their horror, had inadvertently coaxed their opponents back to life.

They had done so, too, just when their own resilience had been undermined. United possess as extensive a squad as could sensibly be expected, but the involvement of specific players is always craved. Having just hurried Nemanja Vidic back from a knee injury for some match practice at Blackburn, Sir Alex Ferguson must have been aghast to learn of the center-back's gastric problems that took him into hospital for a couple of hours on Tuesday. The Serb was so debilitated that he could not even join the substitutes.

This had overtones of last year's semi-final at San Siro. The defensive absentee from the starting line-up then was Rio Ferdinand and Vidic, who did take part after being out for a month with a broken collarbone, was a feeble version of his true self. The outcome was a 3-0 defeat by Milan that chastened United's severely.

The loss of Vidic was dismaying. He has been credited with the steep increase in the efficiency of United's defence. If one factor explained why United are having a heady season while Barcelona seem in a slump, it is the contrast between each club's back four. Without Vidic, the difference no longer seemed clear. Barcelona, it is true, missed their suspended captain Carles Puyol, but the line-up has been far from impregnable when he is around.

Ronaldo, desperate to atone for his failure, shone a light on the flaws and Rafael Marquez will not be taking part in the second leg after his caution for fouling the forward. The Mexican, for that matter, had already made a challenge on the same player that could well have brought a second penalty.

Before the interval, it was, none the less, United who were under stress, They struggled with the restructuring that had Owen Hargreaves at right-back and Wayne Rooney in a wide midfield post. Paul Scholes could have featured against Roma at Old Trafford, but his 100th appearance in the competition was delayed to coincide with this occasion. Operating in deep defensive midfield, he would not have been feeling grateful as his traditionally inept tackling conceded free-kicks when he caught Deco and then Andrés Iniesta.

Neither goalkeeper, all the same, had been truly extended in open play before the interval. Yaya Touré imposed himself in midfield and Barcelona relished possession but although Lionel Messi and others found it child's play to fire crosses into the area, United usually intercepted. When, in addition, Samuel Eto'o appeared for a moment to be bursting through the center, Ferdinand had the speed of recovery to snuff out the menace.

Powers of recovery had to be demonstrated at length as Rijkaard's players appeared closer to finding the killer instinct that had been eluding them. With 50 minutes gone, Eto'o streamed past Ferdinand only for Michael Carrick to prevent Messi from capitalizing on the cut-back. Within a minute, Messi and Iniesta combined to prise the opening from which Eto's hit the side-netting. This, all the same, is a seasoned United line-up and it collected itself long enough to execute some plans of its own.

Carrick, for instance, beat Marquez before driving narrowly wide of the near post. The difficulty for the visitors did still lie, to some extent, with the patchwork defence. Well as it did to keep Barcelona at bay, players in midfield and even, in Carlos Tevez's case, attack were conscious that they had to help out as much as possible.

The replacement of Messi, who is still regaining fitness after injury, could not inspire vast relief when his place went to the latest prodigy Bojan Krkic. For United's part, none the less, there must have been some satisfaction that Barcelona were being kept at bay. Their own verve can be revealed in the return at Old Trafford.