Jordan chooses United over Milan

Former Manchester United FC striker Joe Jordan believes Sir Alex Ferguson's side have the edge over another of his former clubs, AC Milan, as they prepare for Wednesday's UEFA Champions League semi-final second leg at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza.

Slight favourites
Jordan, who played for United between 1978 and 1981 before spending two seasons at Milan, feels Wayne Rooney's added-time winner in last week's 3-2 triumph at Old Trafford makes the English team slight favourites to progress to the final in Athens. "At 2-1 up it looked good for Milan but United showed great character to come back the way they did in the second half," the Scot told uefa.com. "At 2-2 you would still have fancied Milan because they had scored two goals away from home. However, Rooney's goal right at the death changed the complexion of the tie. It will still be tough but that goal has given United a good chance of going through."

Absent defenders
As was feared in the first leg, United could start at San Siro without their recognised back four, although there is an outside chance Nemanja Vidić may make it. Jordan - nicknamed 'Lo Squalo' (The Shark) for his gap-toothed appearance and wholehearted approach during his stay in Italy - prefers to concentrate on the attacking threat posed by the likes of Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo rather than missing personnel.

Attacking menace
"Ideally Sir Alex would prefer to have the likes of Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand and Vidić at his disposal, but he faced the same dilemma in the first leg and they overcame that difficulty," said the 55-year-old Jordan, now first-team coach at Portsmouth FC. "The key to United's result at Old Trafford was the quality of their attackers, especially Rooney and Ronaldo. They have real pace going forward and if they adopt that approach on Wednesday, United will make it tough for Milan."

All-English affair
With Chelsea FC or Liverpool FC guaranteed a place in the final, Jordan, who lost two European finals with Leeds United AFC in the mid-1970s - including the 1973 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup against the Rossoneri - is hoping United can make it an all-Premiership affair on 23 May. Jordan said: "It's great for English football to have three teams in the semi-finals. Obviously it would be good to have an all-English final, but you would never write off Milan as they are very capable of getting the 1-0 result that would take them through. Having connections with both clubs, I suppose I can't lose either way, but as I said I just feel that goal from Rooney could prove decisive one way or another."