UEFA Champions League Showdown: AS Roma vs. Manchester United
In last season’s UEFA Champions League quarter-final match-up between Italian Serie A club AS Roma and English Premiership club Manchester United, the first leg went to AS Roma who were able to come up with a 2-1 advantage after winning at the Stadio Olimpico. All Roma had to do when they visited Old Trafford for the second leg was to play some solid defense and hope that the 2-1 advantage would be maintained on aggregate, and Roma would advance to the UEFA Champions League semi-final. However, an inspired Manchester United destroyed Roma on the 2nd leg of their quarter-final match on a score of 7-1 (8-3 on aggregate).
In this 2007-08 season of the UEFA Champions League, Roma and Manchester United have both been put in Group F along with Ukranian squad Dynamo Kyiv and Portugese side Sporting Lisbon. Obviously, that means that these squads will have to clash at one point or another, with the top two of Group F advancing to the round of 16 in the UEFA Champions League tournament.
Roma and Manchester United are set to clash on October 2, when Manchester United host AS Roma at Old Trafford. Last time, Roma visited Old Trafford, ManU had embarassed them 7-1, and knocked them out of the UEFA Champions League tournament. In their upcoming match, Roma is out to make sure that they’ll be bringing their best football with them.
However, that’s not easier said than done. Roma have to regain their confidence going into Old Trafford as they were just demolished by Inter Milan 4-1 in a regular season match of the Italian Serie A over the weekend.
Meanwhile, Manchester United had a successful away 1-0 win at Birmingham City, but lost goakeeper Edwin Van Der Sar in that same match to a toe injury. While Manchester United may not have its star Dutch goalkeeper, they will be relying on Polish keeper Tomasz Kuszczak to tend the Manchester United net in his first UEFA Champions League appearance.
At least, Manchester United coach Sir Alex Ferguson will still have his star squad of Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo on the pitch at Old Trafford to offer some scoring.
Roma head coach Lucian Spalletti will be looking to his stars Francesco Totti, Simone Perrotta, Cicinho and new signee Ludovic Giuly to provide a spark for their side.
Will it be sweet revenge for Roma, or will it be another goal-filled romp for Manchester United?
Roma came in second place in last season’s Italian Serie A behind current champions Inter Milan while Manchester United are the current champions of the English Premier League. Italy’s Number 2 vs. England’s Number 1. That’s sure to be an exciting match.
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