United painfully reign in Spain
It was The Red Devils' first European win in Spain since their famous 1999 Champions Cup success in Barcelona and their first-ever victory in an away leg of a quarter-final tie in the Champions League.
However, United paid the price for their away success with injuries to Roy Keane in the first half and David Beckham in injury time, leaving the Irishman out for up to a month with a hamstring problem and the England captain nursing a bad ankle injury.
Beckham and Ruud van Nistelrooy scored the goals for Sir Alex Ferguson's side in the first half, as Depor provided no real serious threat to scoring with United defending superbly at times in the match and goalkeeper Fabien Barthez not forced to make any real difficult saves.
The home side took the match to their English counterparts from the kick-off, with the wet weather at the Riazor making the conditions on the pitch quite slick.
Depor threatened first but Fran's direct free-kick sailed wide of Barthez's goal from 20 yards out.
United soon replied with good attacking play of their own, with van Nistelrooy forcing La Coruna goalkeeper Francisco Molina to make a reaction save at his left-hand near post to his surprise strike.
Molina was called on again to parry a through ball from the right, with Ryan Giggs bearing down on him.
And it was Giggs who created another half-chance, as he dribbled past his marker to the by-line before cutting the ball back to van Nistelrooy, but his shot caused Molina little trouble.
Van Nistelrooy continued to pester the Depor back-line, as United started to look even more threatening.
Then, with less than a quarter of an hour played, Beckham stunned the sparse home crowd with a brilliant 30-yard strike that curled past Molina into the top left-hand corner of the goal, giving United a 1-0 lead and an invaluable away goal.
La Coruna soon replied with attacking play of their own - Diego Tristan missing his shot in front of goal and minutes later, Gonzalez Sergio forcing Barthez into a good save to keep the away side a goal up.
With 32 minutes gone, van Nistelrooy was taken off the pitch on the stretcher for treatment but after United's physio waved to allow the Dutchman back on, referee Kyros Vassaras judged that the striker entered play before being allowed to and was subsequently booked for his alleged indiscretion.
Depor then had their best spell of the half with Tristan creating two good chances - first getting on to a Fran cross from the left to loop a header that nearly caught Barthez out but for the Frenchman to recover and make the save, then forcing Barthez to save again from his point-blank strike.
Victor then went close with a fine first-time strike from another Fran cross that saw Barthez knock the ball over the bar.
Then after Deportivo failed to clear a Beckham free-kick properly, Mikael Silvestre got on the end of a give-and-go and his sublime low cross from the left of the box found an unmarked van Nistelrooy, who volleyed home past Molina to give United an important 2-0 lead less than five minutes before half-time.
However, The Red Devils' fortunes were severely hit when skipper Roy Keane went down with a hamstring injury after pulling up in a 50-50 challenge with Sergio, leaving the Irishman to be taken off on a stretcher for treatment.
Quinton Fortune came on in place of Keane as United re-shuffled their formation and he came close to scoring goal number three, but just missed getting on to a through-ball as United finished the half strongly.
With the home side two goals down, Sergio's shot brought an early save from Barthez at the start of the second period.
Moments later, Paul Scholes received a yellow card for a heavy challenge on Valeron outside United's penalty box and he will miss the second leg next Wednesday at Old Trafford through suspension.
Depor were then held to a few half-chances from Sergio and defender Nourredine Naybet that failed to bother Barthez.
United came the closest to making it three on the hour, when Giggs latched on to a through-ball in the box and rounded Molina, but with his shot rolling towards goal, Cesar cleared the ball a yard from the goal-line to keep the Spanish club in the match.
A minute later, Giggs broke free again to latch on to a long-ball but Molina held his line and stopped the Welshman's eventual strike away for a corner.
With United in full control and defending staunchly, La Coruna were left to more half-chances with Sergio and Victor causing no problems for Barthez with their long-range efforts.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came on for van Nistelrooy with a quarter of an hour to go and he nearly scored a third, but his-turn-and-shot in Depor's penalty box found the side netting.
La Coruna kept pushing forward in search of a goal but substitute Aldo Duscher failed to find the target when he latched on to a through-ball moments after replacing Victor with three minutes to go.
Then in injury time with the match nearly over, Tristan came in with an awful late challenge on Beckham, amazingly receiving only a yellow card.
The England skipper was taken off on a stretcher with a swollen ankle injury and was replaced by Phil Neville before the final whistle, leaving Sir Alex Ferguson fuming on the bench that the Depor striker was not sent off.
The final whistle came with delight yet concern for United - with Keane, Scholes, and possibly Beckham out for the second leg while La Coruna must exact their opponent's performance at Old Trafford next Wednesday to get back into the tie.
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Deportivo La Coruna 0-2 Manchester United
