Manchester United steamroll Roma to reach the CL semi finals
If you’re looking for the 07/08 Roma v Manchester United qtr final 1st leg, click here.
7 goals. 7!
There’s not much need to for a match report, is it? Manchester United beat Roma 7-1, winning the tie 8-3 and are now in the semi-finals.
You can catch the goals here. I’ll try the match report tomorrow morning.
Excuse me as I go book my ticket for Athens.
Preview
6 days ago in Rome, Manchester United and Roma played out a cracking game. It was 10 against 11 for over 60 minutes, but despite the ref, despite the ball boys and the fighting in the stadium, it was a good game.
Manchester United will be hoping for more of the same - they need to keep a clean sheet and trust Rooney and Ronaldo to put one goal in by half-time. After that, it’s United’s game to lose.
Second Leg - Match Details
Date: Tuesday, 10 April, 2007
Venue: Old Trafford
Time: 19:45 GMT
Latest News
Saha is reportedly unfit and will not play for Manchester United today.
United will bring in Darren Fletcher to replace Paul Scholes in midfield. The other option is to play Giggs in the middle and Park on the left, with Ole and Rooney up front. There are mentions that Evra might return to the starting lineup but that would be unfair on Heinze, who has been excellent in defence and with Vida and Nev gone, United need his strength in defence.
Totti will undergo a late fitness test but should be cleared to play. Barring that, he could start on the bench.
Roma have Perrotta out through suspension, but with Mancini and Taddei free to weave their magic, United’s fullbacks will be in for a rough game.
Roma and Manchester United have issued warnings to their fans to be on their best behaviour. Roma have been cheeky enough to suggest that their fans can do no wrong - apparently throwing bottles and rushing to the glass divider (over-running stewards in the process) and baiting the opposition is the absolutely correct thing to do when your team scores a goal.
Video plus discussion on Roma police beating down on Manchester United fans - new videos
First Leg Review
Roma used home advantage to the fullest to go up 2-1 in the tie. This match had everything - diving by the Roma players, a sending of for Paul Scholes because of silly tackles, a 3 excellent goals (I’m partial to the Rooney effort) and police beating down on Manchester United fans.
It will be interesting to see how Manchester United and Uefa react to the ball-boys advantage and to the beat-down the Rome police delivered to the United fans.
If you think the first claim is bitter complaining, please go watch the game again and clock how quickly Roma get the ball back when it’s their throw in and how quickly Manchester United get the ball back when it’s their throw in.
And as for the beat-down - I don’t have all the facts so I’m not going to say much yet, but here’s the thing - you can’t have the police beating up fans with batons when the fans are on the floor.
It will be interesting to see how the authorities react after getting full video footage of the incident. You can catch detailed coverage of that incident here:
Video plus discussion on Roma police beating down on Manchester United fans
Returning to the match, United did well in the second half, but could have done better. They’ll take the away goal and Roma will take the lead, but this was a game United should have won, or at the very least drawn.
There’s no point in complaining about the first goal (quick help from the ball boy for that corner) - United should have known that was going to happen and they failed to prepare for it. It’s Roma using all the tricks at their disposal (after the mouthing off they gave Ronaldo it was funny to see Taddei and Mancini tumbling at every touch), and Manchester United came up a bit short.
All to play for at Old Trafford, and with Saha fit, United have a good chance of still winning the tie.
Roma 2-1 Manchester United - Goals
First Leg - Match Details
Date: Wednesday, 04 April, 2007
Venue: Stadio Olimpicio
Time: 19:45 GMT
Score: Roma 2-1 Manchester United
Roma Preview
This season, Roma carry the air of a wide-eyed virgin who has been transported directly from church to brothel with 20 million Euros in their pockets but is unable to…”make the most” of it. It has been a comical, almost tragic, series of blunders, and the fact that they sit prettily in second place in Serie A fails to hide the fact that they are at a distinct psychological disadvantage when it comes to leading instead of chasing.
Their inability to keep up with Inter in the early parts of the season has a lot to do with being saddled with the mindset of being a second-tier team. Where Inter relish the freedom accorded to them through Milan’s decline / points deduction and Juventus‘ relegation, Roma have been uncomfortably thrust into the spotlight far ahead of their time.
And yet, Roma have that magical touch, the romance of the underdog, the thrill of controlled aggression and a larger-than-life, thumb-sucking, stupendously talented and capable of scoring goals-that-make-you-drool talisman Totti.
There’s no telling which Roma will turn up - the dashing Giallorossi who have the will and ability to push the best of teams back, or the stumbling Romans who are unable to push out of their own half.
One thing is certain though - somewhere during these 180 minutes, whether at Stadio Olimpico or Old Trafford, the crowd will stand to their feet chant Totti’s name.
This is his stage, his moment. At 29, Totti doesn’t have South Africa 2010 or even Euro 2008 in his mind. He wants to rule Europe, and this season could be his last chance to do so.
The above analysis may sound harsh if you consider that Roma won the Serie A in 2000-2001, and were runners up in 2001-02, 2003-04 and 2005-06 (5th, but pushed up 2nd due to the match-fixing scandal). However, those stats hide the fact that Roma were, like Newcastle last season, flirting with relegation in 2004/2005 before finishing 8th, and finished bottom of their Champions League group.
In short, they are very, very lucky to be in the Champions League this season, despite their strong domestic cup form (where they manage to make (and lose) the final of Coppa Italia quite regularly).
Roma history (ManUtd.com)
AS Roma - profile (Wikipedia)
Francesco Totti (Wikipedia)
Roger Taddei interview (Times Online)
Totti piece by Amy Lawrence (Guardian)
Mancini Interview (UEFA.com)
Manchester United Preview
Manchester United have been missing from the final eight of the Champions League for some time now, so this is a welcome return. Considering their season, it is also an ideal platform for the Red Devils to push on and make a play for Athens.
Where Roma were wasteful of their opportunities, Manchester United grabbed the bull by the horns and are now 6 points clear top of the Premiership with 8 games to go. They have an easy path to the FA Cup final, and in Roma Manchester United have the second-easiest opponents (after PSV Eindhoven).
The media has already started building up the possibility of a treble, a dream triple-finale in May between Manchester United and Chelsea. United aren’t biting yet, and Alex Ferguson will have them focused squarely on winning at home against Blackburn on Saturday before switching their attention to their trip to Rome next Wednesday.
Manchester United go into this clash as form and media favourites, and while you can expect the usual concerns about Manchester United not having goal scorers, between Rooney, Ronaldo, Giggs and co they have enough firepower and quality to dispose of any team.
Their away form is no good and this quarter final could come down to which team keeps a clean sheet at home. Considering United’s propensity to concede goals in major games, I’m not too confident about their ability to sit back and defend an away goal lead.
For United to win, they’ll have to attack and dismantle Roma in Rome, before using the return fixture at Old Trafford to complete a routine victory.
They are capable of it, but recent form and history points to gnawed nerves, a scrappy 1-1 draw at Stadio Olimpicio and another penalty-driven 2-1 win at Old Trafford.
Manchester United’s record in Europe
Roma vs Manchester United - Video Preview
A kind soul (my guess is he’s a Roma / Totti fan) has put together a trailer previewing the Roma - Man Utd clash. Take a look:
Credit: meshary-clips a’k'a Mr_Vegas
- Manchester United 7-1 Roma - Goal Videos
- Manchester United and Chelsea plan photo finish and group hugs
- Manchester United and Chelsea season run-in analysis
- Best Football Region?
- AS Roma v Manchester United Preview
Discussion - 19 Responses
Add Your Comment
Comments are moderated (our comments policy).
Mancini is hugely underrated as well - gets as many goals from midfield as the best midfielders in Europe (around 20 last year), including several spectacular strikes.
i feel so fukin angry that the man united fans were beaten by the police who were meant to be controlling the game. They beat one guy over and over again where is the justice in that?? the roma fans started by taunting the man united fans but when they went to retaliate the police beat them all. the roma fans continued to throw bottles and what happend to them fuk all !! im so angry and bring on the next leg !!
man united shouldnt have lost that match and they will get some trouble in old trafford in next match so they have to w’n the other match if they wanted to be the champion of the champions leuge. but ‘ dont know if roma fc can play not under pressure w’th man un’ted in 11 april but i think that this is the worst mistake which man united did this year… good luck for them next mtch i hope will win
the police beat the crap out of a few english fans, true.
but are the english fans angels? are they without fault? i doubt that very much.
the message is clear. don’t mess around with italian police. if you do, you can expect to get beat. italy ain’t a ultra-protectionist nanny state where you can do whatever you want like in england.
It will be an interesting second leg, specially after the brawl. Let’s see how the 70,000-odd crowd will take the game to Roma fans. But I’m kinda surprised on Fergie’s uncharacteristically upbeat response after the game. He’s usualy not very eager to express optimism. The odds are:
ManU Loses - They’re out.
ManU Draws - They’re out.
ManU Wins by 1 GD:
Score 1-0 - They’re through.
Score 2-1 - Extra time.
Score 3-2 - They’re out.
ManU Wins by 2 GD:
Through anyway.
Things look very much contingent on a solid defence and evading that away goal Roma would be looking for. I don’t believe Fergie is “as calm and cool” about the match as he sounded on Sky.
Roma played a lot better than man united, 26 shots to 9, if you think the ref was in favor of ROMA, you are just a loser that doesnt know how to lose, typical english, always someone else fault. LOOOOOOOOSSSSEEERRRRSSS!!!
the ref was probably done in by the cauldron that is the stadio olimpico, but to say united were done in by the ref is not entirely true. sure, roma had more shots on target than man utd but of those 26 attempts, i don’t remember them testing van der sar for even half that amount. like ahmed mentioned, taddei and mancini tumbled like nine-pins (taddei more often than not) though the ref did protect totti and ronaldo. i hope we get an english-style referee for the home game, so we can let the tackles really fly and then i’d like to see the romans play. wat i’d pay to see the mortified expression on taddei’s face when he’s brought to the floor but doesn’t get a foul.
anyhow, i’m optimistic for the home game. with saha back, we can play more like the man utd we know and like the special one says, ” it’s only half time with a whole half to play”.
Roma didn’t take full advantage of 10 men united, just because they could not. United website is right about Roma, they must be one of the worst hosts ever, the rudest.
* SAF is gonna be in trouble for mentioning “playing against 12 men”. May be it is true, so scoring a goals against 12 with 10 men is terrific and quite +ve for the return leg.
* But It will be very tough job for United when roma visits especially after missing Scholes through suspension. Who can replace him who can do a difference.
> Giggs plays better as a winger
> Park is natural winger-striker
> Fletcher easily gives the ball away
> 4-3-3 Might go well with them
* With these injuries and suspension, “Treble”? Seriously? I don’t think so.
* And defense sucks with brown and O’Shea as expected. I hate too say this but if we had played with the fully fit team, the result easily would be 0-2 to united.
I don’t care what any of you say about english fans being bad losers thats not what we care about its the injustice of man united supporters being beaten by police which are out of control. The roma fans started the confliction and did they get beaten … No they fukin well didn’t. So before you go on about english fans not being angels get your facts sorted out !!!
What a bad match. Forget about the fan incidents, the match was awfull!
What is upsetting is that SAF planned ONLY on getting an away goal. The whole approach, especially the last couple of minutes displayed it “we have the goal, now lets keep it tight”…pathetic. So we lost Scholes (through his own stupidity I must add)…so what? We should still have taken Roma apart.
I know this is a tactical approach, but I would have preferred the team to show more spirit in actually winning the game.
so your saying Ronaldo dint dive?!! dude watch the match again.
maggica ROMA
Shut it you muppet.
you dont know what the hell you are talking about, Roma scrapped through the first leg against 10 men, the police were only on the english side of the barrier, and yes the ref was just a little bit biased.
never mind formalities at old trafford.
Nope, at least I’m not saying that. Ronaldo engaged in the same gamesmanship that Taddei, Mancini, Perrota, Totti and Wilhelmson engaged in.
Evra played a lot of games on the left and we were not massacred on the left… you are a bit obsessed with him, still not accepting he’s actually good. It’s like people who continue to blast Fletcher despite the fact he performed very well whenever called into action this season.
tushar or wateva ya name is
wat u ona about sayin ronaldo dive? did u see the roma players sliding all over the place like the dirty cheating twats they are. The mufc palyers only had to slightly touch them and they were crying out for penalties and free kicks. so why dont you take your own advise and watch the match again !
Ahmed - surprised to see you forgetting Chivu in that list - age catching up w/ u? lol. But nah - whatever happened to the authoritarian ref who laid a marker along the lines of ‘anyone asking for a player to be booked will be booked’? Reckon he really didn’t want to be listed in the record books as ‘most cards brandished’.
Tutu - reckon its on a bit too tight - try releasing the cord a bit.
Why do you only write reviews for when Man United win?
Where is the portsmouth review?
A man
they were changing hosts during the weekend or something like that. . so the site wasn’t up and running.. simple as that
what do you reckon about de rossi as a possible alternative to owen hargreaves this summer he didnt have the best of games against united but definityly has the abilty to cut at united.
who would you rather unnited signed this summer
nani or simao