United do as Romans are done

SOCCER/AS Roma 0 Manchester Utd 2:ONE SUSPECTS that old journalistic cliché, much loved in the Anglo-Saxon world, namely "The Italian Job" will be doing the rounds of English newspapers this morning. In beating AS Roma at the Olympic Stadium here last night, the English Premier League leaders gave a mightily impressive display of dominant self-belief, worthy of the best Italian teams.

The final corner-kick score at the end of this Champions League quarter-final first leg reads Roma 10, Manchester United 1. That statistic clearly testifies that it was Roma who did by the far the most attacking.

Yet, it was United, who, in the best Italian tradition, took their chances for a thoroughly deserved victory that must surely have guaranteed them a place in the semi-finals.

Given this sort of self-belief and maturity, too, the United run may not end there either.

Much of the pre-match hype in Rome had focused on United's two stars up front, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo. Usually such hype is a prelude to a disappointing performance. Last night, however, the two United men lived up to their billing, sharing the goals that rounded off a splendid night for the Manchester club.

As expected, Roma had opened up with the throttle pulled all the way back. Yet, for all that they huffed and puffed, dominating possession and knocking the ball around with a cultured fluency, they had nothing to show for it by the end of the first half.

On the contrary, they found themselves 0-1 down at the end of 45 minutes during which the United goalkeeper, Dutchman Edwin Van der Saar, was largely a spectator, not having to make even one save.

The closest Roma had come to worrying the United goalkeeper was when veteran defender Christian Panucci, captain for the night in the absence of injured talisman Francesco Totti, got on the end of a corner from David Pizzaro, knocking a powerful header over the bar.

As Roma poured forward in attack after attack, United had given the impression that they were in no hurry. If necessary, they seemed to say, we will finish off the business next week at Old Trafford.

In the end, however, that may not prove necessary. In the end, the combined genius of Rooney and Ronaldo may well have already put United into the semi-finals.

Turning cleverly on the edge of the box, Rooney worked the ball out to Paul Scholes on the right. The experienced ex-England international knocked in an inviting little cross which Ronaldo powered home with a bold header for a 40th-minute goal that was more about his bravery than his undoubted class.

There and then, one had the suspicion that this tie might already be well and truly over.

For United, the only minor negative note of the entire half had been the 33rd-minute injury to Serb central defender Nemanja Vidic, who was replaced by Waterford's John O'Shea.

Roma came out for the second half with an attitude that might best be summed up as the Latin equivalent of Give-It-A-Lash. Panucci and left back Max Tonetto both missed reasonable chances immediately after the break.

But, in their anxiety, Roma began to make uncharacteristic errors.

When Ludovic Giuly was brought on for Brazilian Taddei on the hour, Roma experienced a brief flurry of hope with Giuly outflanking the United defence with his first touch before sending in a dangerous low cross. That, however, was to prove itself the last Roma hurrah on a United-dominated night.

At the very moment of maximum Roma offensive impact, the Serie A side were struck down by a goal against the run of play. Ji-Sung Park did extremely well to get on the end of a speculative cross from Ronaldo out on the right. Roma goalkeeper Doni failed to get to Park's header across the box and, as he fell to the ground, he got in the way of Panucci in a true comedy of errors, leaving Rooney with the simplest of tap-ins in the 68th minute.

If, to some extent, the contest had already seemed over at half-time, Roma were buried now. If there were going to be any more goals, they would be coming from United, a point underlined when Rooney and Ronaldo combined yet again to set up a 68th-minute chance which saw the Portuguese star hit the post, with Doni well beaten.

Fittingly, the game ended with United again coming close to scoring a third goal when Argentine substitute Carlos Tevez set up another glorious chance for Ronaldo, only for him to blast over the bar.

ROMA: Doni, Cassetti, Mexes, Panucci, Tonetto (Cicinho 69), De Rossi, Aquilani (Esposito 76), Taddei (Giuly 59), Pizarro, Mancini, Vucinic. Subs not used: Curci, Antunes, Ferrari, Brighi. Booked: Pizarro, Mexes.

MAN UTD: Van der Sar, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic (O'Shea 34), Evra, Carrick, Scholes, Anderson (Hargreaves 55), Ronaldo, Park, Rooney (Tevez 84). Subs not used: Kuszczak, Giggs, Pique, Silvestre. Booked: Anderson.

Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium).