Champions League
2008-04-01 - AS Roma vs Manchester Utd
A Sports Betting Pick by Gooner
UEFA Champions League Quarter-finals
Stadio Olimpico - Rome
1st April 2008 - KO 20:45 (CET)
AS ROMA (ITALY)
AS Roma have a mental mountain to climb if they are to eliminate Manchester United and progress to the semi-finals of the Champions League.
Last season, the Giallorossi recorded a 2-1 first-leg lead in the Italian capital but were then blown away in a 7-1 thrashing at Old Trafford that marked Roma's biggest ever European defeat.
Now Roma will face Manchester United in the knockout stages once again, having already faced the English side in the group stages (losing 0-1 in Manchester and drawing 1-1 in Rome).
Roma reached this stage by beating Real Madrid twice in the second round, winning both matches by a 2-1 scoreline for a combined 4-2 aggregate success.
Overall AS Roma have now put together a successful 9-match European streak in the Stadio Olimpico winning 6 games and drawing the other 3 matches.
MANCHESTER UNITED (England)
Manchester United have hit a purple patch of form domestically, and seem to be running away with the English league title now, thanks to a string of superb performances from Cristiano Ronaldo, ably supported by Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez.
But winning away in Europe is a tough business, even for mighty ManYoo, and the Manchester club only has a 4-3-6 when travelling in Europe over the last three seasons.
However, United are unbeaten in Europe this season topping Group F with five wins and one draw and then beating 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.
FORM VS OTHER CLUBS FROM OPPONENTS COUNTRY
Roma's ten previous home encounters against English opponents have produced five wins, three draws and two defeats. They won their first three two-legged ties against teams from England but have now lost their last four.
United have traditionally enjoyed little success on their travels to Italy, losing ten and winning just two of 14 previous matches. It took them eight attempts to record an away victory against Italian opposition, although they certainly broke their duck in style by defeating Juventus 3-2 in the 1999 UEFA Champions League semi-final second leg.
TEAM NEWS
Francesco Totti is almost certainly out of AS Roma's meeting with Manchester United on Tuesday after suffering a thigh injury in Saturday's 1-1 draw at Cagliari Calcio.
The Roma captain played the whole 90 minutes at Cagliari, cancelling out Matteo Ferrari's own goal with a sumptuous free-kick on the stroke of half-time, yet later complained of a problem in his left thigh. After initial examinations club doctors have prescribed "a few days of rest", meaning he would miss the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-final against United at the Stadio Olimpico on Tuesday.
The 31-year-old is likely to be replaced by Mirko Vučinić, who came in for the injured Totti for two group stage games in November and scored twice.
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Manchester United's midfielder Darren Fletcher has been ruled out for six weeks with knee ligament damage.
The 24-year-old suffered the injury playing for Scotland in Wednesday's international friendly against Croatia in Glasgow and could miss the rest of the season.
Fletcher has made 14 league appearances this term and won plaudits after some impressive recent displays.
THE VERDICT
United are very strong favourites to progress (rated around 1.44 to qualify) but I feel that they'll probably have to win the second leg - something that is very likely.
In this first match we should see Roma at their best, especially in front of their fanatical home support, but even that might not be enough to secure a victory.
The absence of Totti seems a blow - but Vucinic has proved to be an able deputy in the past, and I expect the Italian club to give as good as they get - in the first leg.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
AS Roma 1-1 Manchester United
