Manchester United 1 - 0 AS Roma @ Old Trafford 10th April 2008

I was a little weary of this match, after the weekend disaster at Middlesbrough, the defence was put to test in this match against the Italian Giants.

Meeting for the 6th time in 2 seasons, Roma looked to avenge their 7-1 defeat here at Old Trafford and shame the United crowd.

After being humiliated by Ronaldo and Rooney in the previous game, they looked fresh for attack and warned Ronaldo about his show-boating.

With United taking on Arsenal in the weekend game, Ferguson rested Rooney and Ronaldo from the starting line-up. He gave Gerrard Pique his 2nd Champions League start and it was relief to see Ferdinand back in the heart of the defence. Tevez played a lone striker role with Ferguson packing the midfield with Park (right wing), Giggs (left), Hargreaves, Carrick and Anderson in the middle of the pitch.

It was good to see Silvestre back in his usual left back position after a long absence which gives Evra a much needed rest. The game exploded into the scene as astonishingly, the midfield was working well. Park and Hargreaves terrorized the Right wing as Giggs found his form after much critism and terrorized the left wing. Anderson and Carrick sprayed balls to Tevez continuously and Roma looked to concede another 7 goals in the first 10minutes.

Luckily for them, their keeper, Doni was alert and kept the visitors in the game. After awhile Roma begin to settle and they begin their attack. They almost got a few goals but the back four and Van Der Sar was alert and that kept them out.

Around the 30th minute, Wes Brown looked as if he fouled Mancini in the box and the Ref gave a penalty to the visitors. It was a debatable challenge but whatever happens, the Ref's decision is final. If Roma were to score, the aggregate would be 2-1 and it would give Roma a new sense of belief to go on and take the semi-final spot from United.

Daniel de Rossi, a former United target, stepped up and tried to score. He missed his chance as the ball flew right into the stands. Disaster for Roma but it was all good for United as they continued their attack on the Roma goal after that.

With the first half drawing to a close, the score was left 0-0. Many anticipated another exciting second half. But fatigue and players slowing down meant that the game moved slowly and sometimes was pretty much boring.

It seemed that Ferdinand who had 3 stitches on his leg during the half time break would have slowed down his pace but in fact he still dived in for tackles and saved Van Der Sar's neck during a scramble in the box. That's leadership qualities and hopefully we'll be seeing him as the next United captain.

In the 70th minute with 20minutes to go. The match came to live once more when Owen Hargreaves crossed a marvelous cross which saw Carlos Tevez diving in for the header. GOAL! It was the end for Roma, as they now had a moutain of a task to break the United defence.

Sir Alex took out Tevez and Figgs later in place for Rooney and O'Shea to come on in much later. He later took Carrick out and sent on Gary Neville who was making his season debut after a horrific injury that took him out of the game for months.

The game ended with United being 1-0 winners, and setting up a mouthwatering semi-final match against Barcelona.