United prove victors in away draw

Manchester United trod water with supreme efficiency here last night to force their second successive scoreless draw in the Mestalla stadium and leave themselves a win away from again reaching the last eight of the Champions League.

With Jaap Stam, Wes Brown and Roy Keane outstanding in defence and midfield, Alex Ferguson's side saw off a remodelled Valencia attack which for all its ingenuity and imagination failed to apply a finishing touch.

Last season, a goalless game satisfied both teams since each needed a point to go through.

All the more credit then for belying their earlier erratic defending away from home in this season's tournament to leave Valencia feeling rather more frustrated than they did last March.

United went into last night's game well aware that by the same time next week they could be virtually assured of a place in the quarter-finals. Four points from their two encounters with Valencia, who come to Old Trafford on Tuesday, would be enough.

Make no mistake, as United's performances go this was far from a classic. After the allegations of match fixing, which surrounded the sides' goalless draw on their last meeting 11 months ago, this game had even fewer genuine chances.

That will not bother United and they will know that their point leaves them within a victory of achieving Ferguson's qualification target of 10 points. United faced a tough assignment in the cauldron-like Mestalla, which had had 4,000 extra seats added for this match.

Valencia have not lost at home in Europe for eight years, while the English champions whose previous encounter with Spanish opposition had seen them removed from last season's tournament by Real Madrid needed to restore some kudos abroad after first-round defeats by PSV in Eindhoven and Anderlecht in Brussels.

With the ball stopping on a pitch saturated by a day of heavy rain, neither team found it easy to play fluent football.

Ferguson was pleased with his side's display. "I thought it was a decent performance by us - I'm pleased with the result and the performance.

"We rode our luck a little bit at the start of the first half, but, after that, I thought we were reasonably in control, never looked like we were going to lose anything and had some good counter-attacking moments ourselves."

Ferguson, who acknowledged the contributions of Wes Brown and Jaap Stam in central defence, admitted "Mendieta caused a few problems for us".

From the start it was obvious that Stam and Brown would be severely tested by the power and pace of John Carew, Valencia's Norwegian striker, and the sharp Argentine skills of Pablo Aimar, their £14 million buy from River Plate.

Working in tandem, the pair were soon splashing their way into threatening situations with Gaizka Mendieta on hand to prod and probe for openings.

Ryan Giggs began to torment Jocelyn Angloma and, after 20 minutes, Teddy Sheringham set him up for a centre which David Beckham, sprinting towards the far post, only just failed to reach.

With Roy Keane and Paul Scholes asserting their authority in midfield, United began to break up Valencia's passing, but Mendieta's ability to steal into space remained a threat.

Yet for all Valencia's threatening gestures and Manchester United's swift counter-punches neither goalkeeper had to make a serious save in the first half. Barthez's worst moment came when he failed to cut out a centre from Kily Gonzalez and was rescued by the alertness of Wes Brown.

This state of affairs suited United, but frustrated Valencia who were finding it increasingly difficult to launch Carew or Aimar beyond the long-legged reach of Stam.

Equally, Pellegrino offered Cole few glimpses of goal while Amedeo Carboni's policy of laying up tight on Beckham severely restricted the United man's supply of centres. Eventually Beckham gave way to Nicky Butt for the last 15 minutes.

By the time the match was an hour old, something of the impetus had gone out of Valencia's football. Their confidence had been eroded by the steadfastness of Stam and Brown in the United defence and, in front of them, the seemingly effortless command of Keane.

The more Valencia strained for a win the more they were likely to expose themselves to counter-attacks, but unless the Spanish side scored United were not going to change a shape and pattern which appeared increasingly likely to bring them another scoreless draw in this stadium.

Nevertheless, the regularity with which Kily was setting up brisk exchanges of passes in and around the United penalty area kept the Mestalla crowd in a state of buoyant optimism.

With 20 minutes remaining, Kily set up Carew for a close-range shot which, while it was blocked by Barthez, could have brought Valencia a goal had Aimar been better placed for the rebound.

In the city which claims to have the holy grail, Manchester United took an important step in their quest to lift football's equivalent prize.

VALENCIA: Canizares, Carboni, Pellegrino, Ayala, Angloma, Mendieta, Kily Gonzalez, Baraja, Aimar, Angulo, Carew (Alonso 75). Subs Not Used: Palop, Deschamps, Djukic, Vicente, Sanchez, Albelda. Booked: Pellegrino, Ayala.

MAN UTD: Barthez, Silvestre, Stam, Brown, Gary Neville, Giggs, Keane, Scholes, Beckham (Butt 75), Sheringham, Cole (Solskjaer 85). Subs Not Used: Van Der Gouw, Irwin, Phil Neville, Yorke, Chadwick. Booked: Scholes, Silvestre, Stam.

Referee: Dick Jol (Holland).