UEFA Champions League
Champions League Quarter-final
Second Leg
Old Trafford
Wednesday, 9 April; KO: 19:45 BST
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AS Roma have
a mountain
to climb when they return to Old Trafford, scene of their heaviest European defeat,
needing to overturn a 2-0 deficit in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final against Manchester United FC.
Manchester United are without Nemanja Vidic (knee) and have a doubt over Rio Ferdinand
for the Champions League quarter-final second leg with Roma.
Vidic is out for two to three weeks while Ferdinand suffered a foot injury on Sunday, so Gary Neville and Mikael Silvestre could come into contention.
Roma captain Francesco Totti will miss the match at Old Trafford as he is still suffering a thigh muscle injury.
But midfielder Alberto Aquilani has been included in the Italians' squad.
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BIG MATCH STATS
Head-to-heads
Manchester United and AS Roma have met five times before in European competition with United winning three times and Roma once.
One match ended undecided.
All five have taken place since the beginning of April last year.
The last match at Old Trafford, on 10 April 2007, ended in an emphatic
7-1 victory for United
who therefore progressed to the semi-finals.
This was AS Roma's heaviest ever European defeat and it was also the biggest ever victory margin recorded in the CL knock-out stages.
European history
Manchester United have won three European trophies - the 1967-68 Champions Cup, 1990-91 Cup Winners' Cup and 1998-99 Champions League.
The Red Devils have been knocked out of European competition by Italian sides six times;
four times by AC Milan and twice by Juventus.
Last season United they were eliminated by AC Milan in the CL semi-finals, losing 5-3 on aggregate.
In the 1960-61 season, AS Roma won the Fairs Cup, their only piece of European silverware to date.
Roma have reached two other European finals;
the 1983-84 Champions Cup final which they lost on penalties to Liverpool,
and the 1990-91 Uefa Cup final, which they lost 2-1 on aggregate to Internazionale.
Roma have never reached the semi-final stage of the Champions League.
Current European form
Manchester United have won their last 10 Champions League home matches.
Victory against AS Roma will break the Champions League record which United currently share with Juventus.
United are unbeaten in 13 Champions League home matches since losing 1-0 to AC Milan in February 2005.
United are unbeaten in nine Champions League matches home and away, since losing
3-0 at AC Milan in last May's semi-final second leg.
Sir Alex Ferguson's side are one of two unbeaten teams in this season's Champions League.
Barcelona is the other.
AS Roma are unbeaten in three Champions League away matches.
Player and disciplinary info
Mirko Vucinic, Marco Cassetti, Cicinho, Daniele De Rossi, Max Tonetto and Philippe Mexes (AS Roma) are all one yellow card away from suspension,
as are Nani and Patrice Evra (Manchester United).
If selected:-
Edwin van der Sar will be keeping goal in his 100th European match (if his two Uefa Super Cup matches are included).
He made his European debut for Ajax in a 3-0 win against Vitoria Guimaraes.
Paul Scholes will be making his 100th Champions League appearance, and become the second person
to play a century of Champions League matches for United.
Ryan Giggs achieved this milestone in the 1-1 draw at Olympique Lyon in February.
Scholes made his CL debut in a 2-2 draw against Barcelona on 19 October 1994.
John O'Shea will be featuring in his 50th Champions League match.
He made his debut as a substitute in the 1-1 draw at Lille on 31 October 2001.
Cristiano Ronaldo is this season's top scorer in the Champions League with seven goals.
He is the top scorer in the Premier League with 27, and with 37 goals in all competitions for United this season,
Ronaldo is endangering Denis Law's club record for most goals in a season (46).
Daniele De Rossi and David Pizarro have played in all nine of AS Roma's Champions League matches this season.
No United player has played all nine for their club.
Mirko Vucinic leads Roma goalscorers in this season's Champions League campaign with four goals.
Other miscellaneous facts
This match will be AS Roma's 50th in the Champions League.
They have won 16, drawn 17 and lost 16.
Manchester United drew 2-2 with Middlesbrough in the Premier League on Sunday.
Cristiano Ronaldo
scored in his sixth consecutive game for the club, and
Wayne Rooney
got the other.
The Red Devils lead the Premier League, but their advantage over second placed Chelsea has shrunk to three points.
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Premiership Table:
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AS Roma beat Genoa 3-2 in the Serie A on Saturday, following goals from Taddei, Vucinic and De Rossi.
Roma are still second in the Serie A, four points behind leaders Internazionale.
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Serie A Table:
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are strong favourites to advance
to a second successive semi-final given not just the advantage they hold and an unbeaten home record in the competition
stretching back over three years, but also the fact they have already beaten their opponents twice
on home turf during the past 12 months.
After dismantling Roma 7-1 in last term's quarter-final, they then defeated them 1-0 in the group stage of this season's competition
• It does not help
that they have won just once in ten previous visits to England – a 1-0 victory at Liverpool FC in the fourth round of the 2000/01 UEFA Cup.
• That was one of four occasions when Roma have travelled abroad needing to make amends for a home reverse
and their 1-0 success at Anfield was not enough to prevent a 2-1 aggregate defeat.
Only once have they come back to win, when they lost 2-1 at home to 1. FC Nürnberg in the 1988/89 UEFA Cup first round
but then triumphed 3-1 in Germany through goals from Rudi Völler, Roberto Policano and Renato Portaluppi.
• United, for their part have been in this position 13 times before in UEFA competitions,
qualifying rounds included, and have never lost a tie after winning away in the first leg.
• Sir Alex Ferguson's men took control of this quarter-final when goals from
Cristiano Ronaldo (39 minutes)
and
Wayne Rooney (66)
earned them a 2-0 win at the Stadio Olimpico on 1 April.
• The teams for the first leg were:
Roma:
Doni, Marco Cassetti, Philippe Mexes, Christian Panucci, Max Tonetto (Cicinho 68), Daniele De Rossi, Alberto Aquilani (Mauro Esposito 77),
Taddei (Ludovic Giuly 59), David Pizarro, Mancini, Mirko Vučinić.
Manchester United:
Edwin van der Sar, Wes Brown, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidić (John O'Shea 33), Patrice Evra, Michael Carrick, Paul Scholes,
Anderson (Owen Hargreaves 55), Ji-Sung Park, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney (Carlos Tévez 84).
• This will be the clubs' sixth meeting since April last year and so far United have recorded three wins
to Roma's one with another match drawn.
• In last season's quarter-final Roma at least had the advantage of a 2-1 first-leg lead
– goals from
Taddei (44)
and
Mirko Vučinić (66)
sandwiching
a Rooney strike
when they visited Manchester for the second leg on 10 April.
• Nobody in either camp will need reminding what happened next, United overwhelming their opponents on a night where five home players
– Michael Carrick (2), Ronaldo (2), Alan Smith, Rooney and Patrice Evra – featured on the scoresheet.
Daniele De Rossi struck Roma's goal.
• The lineups for that first-leg tie were:
Roma:
Doni, Marco Cassetti, Cristian Chivu, Philippe Mexes, Christian Panucci, Daniele De Rossi, Simone Perrotta,
Christian Wilhelmsson (Mirko Vučinić 62), Taddei (Aleandro Rosi 82), Mancini, Francesco Totti
Manchester United:
Edwin van der Sar, Wes Brown, Rio Ferdinand, Gabriel Heinze, John O'Shea, Cristiano Ronaldo, Michael Carrick, Paul Scholes,
Ryan Giggs (Louis Saha 77), Ole Gunnar Solskjær (Darren Fletcher 72), Wayne Rooney
• Luciano Spalletti's men lost again at Old Trafford in a Group F fixture on 2 October.
Rooney's 70th-minute strike
secured a 1-0 victory for the Premier League champions.
• The lineups that evening in Rome were:
Roma:
Doni, Cicinho, Matteo Ferrari, Philippe Mexes, Ahmed Apimah Barusso (Ludovic Giuly 62), Antunes, David Pizarro,
Mauro Esposito (Mirko Vučinić 62), Taddei (Daniele De Rossi 46), Mancini, Francesco Totti
Manchester United:
Tomasz Kuszczak, Danny Simpson, Gerard Piqué, Jonny Evans, John O'Shea (Wes Brown 54), Chris Eagles,
Darren Fletcher, Michael Carrick, Nani, Louis Saha, Wayne Rooney (Dong Fangzhuo 74)
• The teams subsequently drew 1-1 in their final group game on 12 December,
Mancini cancelling out Gerard Piqué's 34th-minute opener with the Roma equaliser 19 minutes from time.
• This is Roma's third quarter-final following previous appearances in the last eight in 1984 and last season.
In contrast, United are appearing in their 14th quarter-final.
They won nine and lost four of the previous 13.
• Roma reached this stage by finishing second in Group F with a record of W3 D2 L1 and then
overcoming Real Madrid CF in the first knockout round.
David Pizarro (24) and Mancini (58) scored the goals that earned a 2-1 comeback
win in the first leg against Madrid at the Stadio Olimpico and Spalletti's side
secured an identical victory in the return where Taddei (73) and Vučinić (90+2)
struck either side of Madrid's Raúl González.
• For their part, United topped Group F with five wins and one draw and then defeated Olympique Lyonnais in the last 16.
Carlos Tévez's 87th-minute goal
earned Sir Alex Ferguson's side a 1-1 first-leg draw at Stade de Gerland before
Ronaldo scored the only goal
of the return after 41 minutes.
• United are one of two teams, alongside FC Barcelona, who remain unbeaten in this season's competition.
They have won their last ten home games against continental opposition and have not lost at Old Trafford
in their last 13 UEFA Champions League matches.
• AC Milan were the last visiting team to get the better of United in the UEFA Champions League, winning 1-0 in a last-16 tie in February 2005.
• Roma have won their last two away matches in the competition, beating FC Dynamo Kyiv 4-1 in the group stage
then triumphing in Madrid last month.
• United's previous 14 matches at home to Italian teams have yielded ten wins and just two losses.
• In two-legged ties against Italian teams, United have won three and lost six
the most recent a 5-3 aggregate defeat by AC Milan in last season's UEFA Champions League semi-finals
which was sealed by a 3-0 second-leg reverse in Milan.
• Roma won their first three two-legged ties against English opposition but have now lost their last four.
• Prior to last season the Giallorossi had reached the last eight of Europe's élite competition only once before
in 1983/84, the season they went all the way to the final before losing on penalties to Liverpool FC in the Stadio Olimpico.
• Rooney has struck six goals in seven games against Serie A opposition in the last two seasons
four of them against Roma.
• Ronaldo had not found the net in the UEFA Champions League prior to last April's 7-1 win against Roma.
Including his two goals against the Giallorossi that night, he has now scored ten in his last eleven appearances in the competition.
• Simone Perrotta was born to Italian parents in the Lancashire town of Ashton-under-Lyme,
a half-hour drive from Old Trafford and also the birthplace of England's 1966 FIFA World Cup hero Sir Geoff Hurst.
• Christian Panucci and Matteo Ferrari had short spells in the Premier League with Chelsea FC and Everton FC respectively.
Panucci spent part of 2000/01 on loan at Chelsea
while Ferrari was at Everton for the entire 2005/06 campaign.
• Edwin van der Sar played in Serie A between 1999 and 2001 with Juventus, while Mikaël Silvestre spent 1998/99 at FC Internazionale Milano.
His compatriot Evra also played in Italy in the late 1990s for Marsala Calcio and Monza Calcio but never appeared in the top flight.
• United have lost both of their two previous penalty shoot-outs in Europe:
4-5 v Fehérvár, 1984/85 UEFA Cup quarter-finals
3-4 v FC Torpedo Moskva, 1992/93 UEFA Cup first round
• Roma, meanwhile, have won one and lost two of their own shoot-outs:
4-2 v IFK Norrköping, 1982/83 UEFA Cup second round
2-4 v Liverpool FC, 1983/84 European Champion Clubs' Cup final
3-4 v Real Zaragoza, 1986/87 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup first round
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