Resolute Valencia refuse to buckle

So it's nil-nil and it's halftime: no advantage, but crucially no deficit either. Leeds United are still only 90 minutes away from a first appearance in the European Cup final for 26 years.

They know it will be far from easy getting there. Any scoring draw in the Mestalla stadium next Tuesday will see Leeds through, but David O'Leary's words beforehand about Valencia being the hardest-working side in Europe with the best defence in Spain "by a mile" were borne out last night.

Valencia were as stubborn as O'Leary expected, and the fact that Valencia have never been beaten at home in the Champions League is not the most promising of statistics.

Leeds, however, showed here that they are capable of taking on last year's beaten finalists and, if not tearing them apart, then opening them up. Playing with their customary high tempo, Leeds forced Santiago Canizares into several important saves and hit the crossbar via Lee Bowyer with 20 minutes left. It was Valencia, though, who almost snatched an injury-time winner when substitute Vicente's bouncing volley was headed off the line to safety by Leeds captain Rio Ferdinand.

So the two go to Spain level and Leeds with their squad intact. Valencia will be without Ruben Baraja and Amedeo Carboni, though, both men given yellow cards. But, overall, the dirty game the tabloids had anticipated did not materialise.

There were moments, from Bowyer and Smith - the latter swearing at O'Leary - but when the first foul came in the fourth minute it was from Mauricio Pellegrino, not a Leeds player. Twenty yards out and at a difficult angle, Ian Harte made Canizares sweat with a typical curling free-kick.

Canizares tipped that effort over, but from the corner, taken by Harte, Dominic Matteo was given room to produce a header. It was weak, but for a split second it seemed as though Harry Kewell, lurking behind Matteo, might profit. He did not, but Valencia had been warned. Leeds had started well.

At that very early stage the Valencia manager, Hector Cuper, was off the bench screaming about the slackness of his team. Kewell was roaming and David Batty and Bowyer both had shots, but by the 20minute mark the visitors had forced Nigel Martyn into a fine save and Gaizka Mendieta had hit the crossbar.

Martyn's tip came in the 12th minute and was an alert dive to his left to palm away a superblyexecuted overhead kick by John Carew, previously regarded as a bit of a lump. This attempt was worthy of Hugo Sanchez.

Mendieta was not involved in that move but he initiated the next. It ended with a Kily Gonzalez cross being half-blocked by Danny Mills; the ball spiralled into the air and Martyn's punch under pressure from Carew was a poor one. It fell to Mendieta and his instant header looped over Harte on the line but not below the bar.

It was Leeds who were now being reminded of their vulnerability. Olivier Dacourt and Batty were finding it harder to establish control of the midfield in this company than in the Premiership. Bowyer was too peripheral, aside from a nasty double stamp on Juan Sanchez.

Still, the ebb and flow offered Leeds hope and Valencia were not totally comfortable. Yet as the first half progressed the Spaniards settled and Martyn was again brought into decisive action three minutes before the interval when Ferdinand spliced a header as he stepped backwards to his goal. Ferdinand's mistake set up Sanchez who struck a first-time volley toward the bottom corner. Martyn got there just in time.

The second half began perhaps as we had expected the first to - cagily. Then, in the 52nd minute, Leeds won another corner. Harte again drilled it in, Bowyer flicked it on at the near post to where Matteo had found space at the far. Matteo's downward header was a firm one and looked certain to go in when Canizares leapt to his left and clawed it away. Leeds appealed but not even television replays could prove it was a goal.

But it gave Leeds heart. Soon Valencia were defending in greater depth and numbers than before as Leeds marched forward. Unfortunately for United, one of Valencia's premier talents is just that, and even though Leeds were enjoying holding the ball it was via scrappy intervention by Batty that the next opportunity came. Smith chased Batty's header down, and while his volley soared over the bar, Leeds maybe sensed that for the first time Valencia were rattled. Gaps were starting to be created, and in the 71st minute Smith chipped the advanced Canizares from one. The ball bounced in the six-yard box. Viduka jumped with Pellegrino for it and both missed; Bowyer didn't, but his awkward touch came back off the bar. Leeds must now do it on the rebound in Spain.

LEEDS: Martyn, Mills, Harte, Ferdinand, Matteo, Bowyer, Dacourt, Batty, Kewell, Viduka, Smith. Subs Not Used: Robinson, Kelly, Woodgate, McPhail, Wilcox, Bakke, Burns.

VALENCIA: Canizares, Angloma, Pellegrino, Ayala, Carboni, Albelda, Baraja, Mendieta, Kily Gonzalez (Vicente 90), Sanchez (Zahovic 67), Carew. Subs Not Used: Palop, Deschamps, Djukic, Aimar, Aurelio. Booked: Baraja, Carboni. Referee: Pierluigi Collina (Lucca)