BY OLIVER HOLT ( The Times )

THE era when Manchester United knew their place and were taught lessons by the imperious sides of Juventus was supposed to have been consigned to an inglorious past. Last night, though, in the first leg of this European Cup semi-final at Old Trafford, Juventus went beyond a lesson. They produced a masterclass.

The effect was spoilt a little by Ryan Giggs's late, late equaliser, a left-foot shot that bulged the roof of the net deep into injury time, but the fact remains that the Italian champions are clear favourites to claim the place in the European Cup final that United covet so much.

Juventus had got the away goal that Alex Ferguson, the United manager, dreads so much midway through the first half, with a neat finish from Antonio Conte, but they could have been three-up by the interval. Their dominance was almost embarrassing.

United do at least deserve credit for not crumbling completely in the face of Italian mastery. They kept going, kept pressing for the equaliser, even when Teddy Sheringham had a header ruled out for offside five minutes from time. Now, there is the merest chink of light, emanating from the thought that United cannot play as poorly as this when the sides meet in the Stadio Delle Alpi in a fortnight.

"I know Juventus will feel that they are favourites," Ferguson said, "but something tells me we are going to win. The nature of our club is that we torture ourselves so much that the only way to get relief is by winning over there. It will be a great game and hopefully I am right."

After last night, though, after the first-half exhibition that Juventus produced, United's equaliser felt a little like it was papering over the cracks. They will have to play much, much better in Turin and hope that this was just a fluke of brilliance in the midst of what has been a mediocre Juventus season. They saved their best so far for this semi-final. United saved their worst.

From the start, Juventus had looked anything but a side in transition, transformation or any of the other words used to describe a team searching for past glories. Such was their poise, their elegance, that their struggles in Serie A could have been a falsehood built for this very occasion.

This is their time, their stage of the season, when frivolities are cast aside and the serious business of winning trophies begins. Last night, they resembled anything other than a side that had scraped through to this semi-final.

United, to the horror of their supporters, seemed to be overawed. They could not get close to Zinedine Zidane in the opening 45 minutes. They just chased his shadow as the man who is officially the world's best player treated a grudging Old Trafford to an exhibition of his footballing beauty and his grace.

As Zidane ran riot, allowed space to operate because David Beckham and Giggs pushed too far up on the flanks, so Edgar Davids and Didier Deschamps stifled Roy Keane and Paul Scholes in the centre of the United midfield.

The width on which United's aggregate victory over Internazionale had been constructed had gone, stifled on the right by the attention that Angelo Di Livio paid to Beckham and Gary Neville. On the left, Giggs struggled to break free of the shackles of Gianluca Pessotto.

United's best chance of the first half came midway through it, when Beckham's dipping, curling free kick clipped the outside of the post, but after that Juventus established a level of dominance that was rarely threatened in the first half.

Zidane was the architect of United's distress and it was from his promptings that Juventus took the lead in the 25th minute. He had teased and twisted his way to the edge of the box before the ball broke to Davids. He threaded it through to Conte, and he turned and drove his left-foot shot beyond Schmeichel.

Juventus should have gone further ahead two minutes later, when Inzaghi wrestled his way past Irwin on the byline. If he had pulled the ball back to the unmarked Zidane, United would surely have been 2-0 down, but greed got the better of him and when he shot from an implausibly tight angle, Schmeichel deflected the ball wide. From Di Livio's ensuing corner, Juventus could have scored again, but the unmarked Montero nodded over the bar. At the other end, United had a good chance to equalise, but Cole headed over from Giggs's driven cross.

Juventus fashioned two more chances before half-time. First, Zidane and Davids worked the ball out to Pessotto, wide on the left and in so much space that he seemed almost disconcerted. He checked inside but lifted his shot just over the bar.

In injury time, Zidane, now causing problems on the right wing, sent over a curling low cross that Inzaghi poked just wide at the near post. They were causing United so many difficulties that Ferguson brought Johnsen on for Berg after the interval.

Johnsen's presence seemed to steady United and at the start of the second half he headed over the bar from Beckham's free kick. Next, Peruzzi pushed Giggs's flicked header over the bar from Beckham's corner and then dived low to smother a stinging 30-yard drive from Keane.

Just when it seemed that bad luck had replaced all the good fortune they had enjoyed in the quarter-finals against Inter, United were rewarded for their persistence when Beckham's hooked cross was not properly cleared and Giggs smashed it in from close range. They must think of that when they travel to Italy, and try to banish the memories of the horrible beauty of that first half.

Manchester United (4-4-2): P Schmeichel - G Neville, H Berg (sub: R Johnsen, 46min), J Stam, D Irwin - D Beckham, R Keane, P Scholes, R Giggs - A Cole, D Yorke (sub: E Sheringham, 79).

Juventus (4-4-1-1): A Peruzzi - Z Mirkovic, P Montero (sub: C Ferrara, 68), M Iuliano, G Pessotto - A Conte, D Deschamps, E Davids, A Di Livio (sub: A Tacchinardi, 77) - Z Zidane - F Inzaghi (sub: J Esnaider, 88).

Referee: M Diaz Vega (Spain).