AS Roma's Mirko Vucinic (L) is
congratulated by his team mates after scoring the winning goal against
Manchester United during their Champions League quarterfinal first leg
soccer match at the Olympic Stadium in Rome April 4, 2007. (Xinhua/Reuters
Photo)
LONDON, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Roma beat 10-man Manchester
United 2-1 at home while Chelsea were held to a 1-1 draw by the visiting
Valencia in their first legs of the European Champion League quarter-finals on
Wednesday.
Paul Scholes was sent off in the violence-marred Rome
game to leave Manchester United battling to keep their Champions League
ambitions alive.
Scholes saw red after 33 minutes for fouls on
Christian Wilhelmsson and Francesco Toto in a quarterfinal first leg marred by
crowd trouble.
Rodrigo Taddei's deflected shot put Roma ahead after
44 minutes.
Wayne Rooney coolly scored his first Champions League
goal since 2004, but Mirko Vucinic slid in Roma's second after 66 minutes for a
slender lead.
In Chelsea's clash with Valencia at Stanford Bridge,
in-form striker Didier Drogba kept the home side's Champions League challenge
alive with a second half equalizer to earn a 1-1 draw.
Drogba came to Chelsea's rescue after David Silva's
stunning strike had put Valencia in control of a hard-fought quarterfinal first
leg clash.
David Silva's blistering drive gave Valencia a
crucial away goal but Didier Drogba kept Chelsea's hopes alive in this Champions
League quarterfinal.
Silva capped an outstanding display with a fierce
shot into thetop corner to open the scoring on 30 minutes.
Earlier, Salomon Kalou cracked an effort onto the bar
after Andrei Shevchenko had been poleaxed by Roberto Ayala yet denied a penalty.
On 53 minutes, Drogba nodded in the leveler, which
could prove vital.
However, Chelsea may feel they could have got more out of the game after coming back from a shaky opening to dominate the second half.
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