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By Neil Custis
April 10 2007
WAYNE ROONEY is backing the magic of Cristiano Ronaldo to conjure up a European fightback against Roma.
Manchester United trail 2-1 from the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final in Rome.
And they have never recovered from losing the first match to win a tie in the competition.
Then again, they have never had someone playing the way Ronaldo is at the moment.
Rooney said: “Cristiano is winning games on his own this season. He has been unbelievable. At the minute, he is the best player in the world by far. Hopefully, he can work some magic in this game and get us through to the semi-finals.”
It was some magic from Rooney in the opening clash that has given United a chance going into tonight’s return.
His superbly taken away goal was crucial. It was his first in the competition for 2½ years, since his debut hat-trick against Fenerbahce.
Rooney added: “I hope that goal does prove to be important. It was important to get an away goal to stay in the tie. Now I hope we can make it count and get through.
“I don’t know why it has taken me so long to score again in the competition. I should have scored before but it is just a relief to get that one.
“Perhaps the talk about it will stop and I can go on and get more goals in the tournament.”
With injury problems mounting, there is an even greater reliance growing on Rooney and Ronaldo.
It was revealed yesterday that Louis Saha is back on the treatment table with hamstring problems.
He joins Mikael Silvestre, Nemanja Vidic, Gary Neville and Ji-Sung Park on the first-team injury list.
United’s problems against Roma were obviously compounded by Paul Scholes’ sending-off, which rules him out of the second leg. And all these worries have come at a crucial stage of the campaign.
United’s lead in the Premiership was cut to three points at the weekend, when they lost to Portsmouth and Chelsea beat Tottenham.
“But with the speed we have in our team, and the match being at Old Trafford, I am sure we can cause them problems. We just have to take our chances.”
United boss Alex Ferguson is backing his team’s strength of character in the face of adversity to get them through.
He said: “This team has always been able to bounce back from set-backs. We have done it this season after we lost at home to Arsenal and then went on a great run.
“We lost in the New Year to West Ham and then went on another great run. Anyone can lose a game but it is what you do about it that makes a team.
“I think we are in a good position in this tie. I am pleased that, having played with 10 men for an hour, we were able to get a goal. When we did, Roma became very nervous.
“Our attacking impetus will be even stronger in this second leg than in the first. I think we will make chances and we have to take them.
“If we take a percentage of the chances we create, we have a massive chance.”
Source ::
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2002390000-2007160305,00.html
**
By Tim Rich
10/04/2007
During their stay in Rome, as they prepared for what could be a decisive encounter at Portsmouth, it was mooted that Sir Alex Ferguson might take his squad to the Vatican, just as Jack Charlton had gone with his Ireland players during the 1990 World Cup. In the end, the sheer numbers cramming into St Peter's Square for the Easter celebrations precluded it.
Looking for answers: Sir Alex Ferguson knows that anything other than victory is unacceptable
Frankly, Ferguson would have done better taking his injury-raddled squad to Lourdes; never has he been in greater need of miracle cures. When the Manchester United manager talks about the side that slalomed its way past every obstacle to the Treble, he will make one point. It suffered no injuries and, until the European Cup final, no suspensions.
As he makes his preparations for tonight's European Cup quarter-final with Roma, Ferguson has problems putting a coherent team together. He has no specialist right-back, two of his three most experienced centre-halves are injured, his first choice left-back has not kicked a ball in anger in more than a month. Louis Saha, his chief striking support for Wayne Rooney. is unfit and his most experienced central midfielder got himself suspended with a piece of brainless tackling in the first leg.
Overcoming a 2-1 deficit at home should not be beyond teams of United's resilience, and Roma are not in the class of the Juventus side that Roy Keane drove aside to take his players to the 1999 European Cup final. But to overturn Roma's 2-1 lead at Old Trafford with the thin resources at his disposal would count among Ferguson's finest achievements.
"We have proved ourselves a number of times and we are no more tense than for any other European tie," Ferguson said. "Can you compare Roma with the great Juventus teams that have come here, or with the Milan of two years ago or with Real Madrid or Bayern Munich who have all come here? It is not going to be any more tense than those games. We have won eight championships; there was a bit of tension there."
It should be pointed out that the last time those clubs went to Old Trafford, they all achieved results that would see Roma through to the semi-finals this evening - or, in Juventus' case, extra time. Ferguson seemed genuinely puzzled when it was put to him that United had never overturned a first-leg defeat in the Champions League under his management.
Actually, United have failed five times to pull back a first-leg reverse and it was the first of those - the 1997 semi-final against Borussia Dortmund - that Ferguson called to mind yesterday. Then, United, having lost 1-0 in the Westfalen Stadium, squandered innumerable chances to snatch victory at Old Trafford.
Ferguson is convinced his players will create openings against a Roma side whose loss through suspension of Simone Perrotta - "their best off-the-ball player" the United manager said - might be every bit as influential as that of Paul Scholes.
"Our attacking emphasis will be more apparent," Ferguson said. "I think we will make chances but we have missed them in the past, particularly in two semi-finals here [against Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen]. If we can create chances and take a percentage, we have a massive chance."
Whether they take them could depend on Wayne Rooney, whose away goal in the Olympic Stadium put to bed all the questions about why he cannot score in the Champions League.
"Playing against Italian teams is a test," Rooney reflected. "The game is slower, they are a lot more organised, but with our players and with the speed they have got, we can cause them problems at Old Trafford."
Rooney has faced Italian opposition only once before at Old Trafford, in 2005 when United were outclassed by Milan. "Cristiano Ronaldo and me were still young, trying to learn the game and lacking experience," Rooney said. "Playing against the likes of Maldini and Nesta does give you a good platform to learn from. We have both improved as players since then and we have matured a lot - especially Cristiano. He is winning games on his own and is by far the best player in the world. Hopefully, he can work some of his magic and get us into the semi-finals."
Team details
Manchester United (probable 4-4-2): Van der Sar; O'Shea, Ferdinand, Brown, Heinze; Ronaldo, Fletcher, Carrick, Giggs; Solskjaer, Rooney.
Roma (probable, 4-2-3-1): Doni; Cassetti, Mexes, Chivu, Panucci; De Rossi, Pizarro; Wilhelmsson, Taddei, Mancini; Totti.
Referee: L Michel (Slovakia).
Source ::
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2007/04/10/sfnman10.xml
The individual qualities of certain players are all well and good, but we need a team to rise to the occasion tonight, or we won't be finding success at the end of this.
The Daily Mail and the Telegraph have both gone with same probable teams, The Sun and The Times don't have one up in their online editions. Though where some fo the XI will end up stariting the game is still open to debate.
