Having stayed true to the traditions that decree Manchester United should play free-flowing, attack-minded football throughout his time at Old Trafford, Alex Ferguson might have coveted a clean sheet first and foremost.
His players apparently decided otherwise, their ability to implement the old adage that attack is the best form of defence sweeping United to a victory that will reverberate around Europe.
The remarkable scoreline made a mockery of the post-match fears about United's apparent defensive frailties. Indeed it was the Italian side, normally so assured when protecting first-leg advantages, who crumbled in the face of unrelenting pressure.
Wes Brown and Rio Ferdinand might have feared the penetration Roma were expected to provide on the counter-attack but instead United's central defenders spent the evening admiring the onslaught that unfolded in front of them.
Rarely can an Italian side have defended so embarrassingly in European competition, Luciano Spalletti's hapless team simply unable to handle United's unforgiving tempo. Several of their players had waxed lyrical about Cristiano Ronaldo in the wake of the first leg but they would have done better to deploy their time working out how to stop the Portuguese.
This was a match of which the DVD will be sold for years to come in the club-shop; for Roma the footage will serve as a sobering reminder of one of the most crushing defeats in their history. The Italians had presumably arrived to frustrate Manchester United although it was their fans whose patience was tried. Their ignominy was total, United strolling to a win in a match that felt more like an exhibition than a Champions League quarter-final.
How Ferguson could afford to smile. Only 24 hours earlier he had been informed that never during his reign had United managed to overturn a first-leg deficit in this competition. Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Porto and Milan had all gone through at their expense after going into the second leg ahead. Against that backdrop, Roma's slender but precious victory in the Stadio Olimpico appeared significant. Nothing, however, could have been further from the truth.
One clean sheet in five matches highlighted United's defensive vulnerabilities but Ferguson could have named his youth-team back-four and looked on without trepidation, such was his side's dominance last night.
Having started with circumspection, conceding possession to Roma, United spectacularly broke free from their shackles, tearing into the shell-shocked visitors and scoring three in seven minutes.
It was a breathtaking opening that shattered Roma's game plan. United's approach must also have changed irrevocably given that Ferguson could not have imagined the tie's complexion would change so quickly.
Roma were simply unable to withstand the pace and power that characterised United's approach.
It was as if Spalletti's side were being punished for the damage Portsmouth inflicted at Fratton Park on Saturday.
United were untouchable, embarrassing their opponents with four goals before the interval. It came as little surprise that Ronaldo, the best player in the world - according to Wayne Rooney - had a hand in three of the four.
Guardian Service
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