Ferguson hails greatest European night
Manchester United's English forward Wayne Rooney (right) is congratulated by his captain Ryan Giggs (left) and teammate Darren Fletcher after scoring the third goal of their European Champions League quarterfinal second leg match against AS Roma at Old Trafford in Manchester on Tuesday. AFP |
Ferguson's side produced what he claimed was the greatest European performance he had ever seen at Old Trafford as they advanced to the semifinals with a stunning display on Tuesday.
United trailed 2-1 from the quarter-final first leg, but they blew Roma away with three goals in seven minutes early in the first half and went on to record their biggest win of the season.
The Premiership leaders' breath-taking display clinched an 8-3 aggregate victory and set up a semifinal meeting with either AC Milan or Bayern Munich - their first appearance in the last four since 2002.
After successive defeats to Roma and Portsmouth last week, United looked as though they were crumbling under the weight of injuries to Gary Neville, Nemanja Vidic and Louis Saha, but they produced the perfect response against the Italians.
Now they will go into the decisive final weeks of the season with renewed belief and Ferguson is adamant he has a squad with enough strength in depth to emulate his 1999 team's treble-winning achievement.
"In a European sense it is my greatest night here. You never expect a scoreline like 7-1. But saying that the quality of our game was so high that once we scored two or three you felt we were going to do something big here.
"I think it was a special night. Hopefully it's not a one-off, but certainly the number of goals and the quality of them, it's difficult to think you are going to get that again.
"I said some months ago that the key to success at our club are the ones sitting on the bench.
"The players that have come in have responded to the challenge and I don't think they have looked out of place. We looked like men tonight.
"That is the kind of quality we have. It is difficult to lose two games at a club like this but we are able to respond to that pressure.
"I think they have to win something and hopefully they can do that. The way they are playing and enjoying their football they deserve it. But we have come to the part of the season where every match is a test. There are big games all the time and hopefully they can get through all that."
United were in the kind of mood that can make them one of the most exciting teams in Europe. Their slick passing and finely-honed movement destroyed Roma during an amazing opening period.
Michael Carrick opened the scoring in the 12th minute with a superb long range effort and Alan Smith got the second five minutes later with a perfectly-placed strike.
Wayne Rooney turned in Ryan Giggs's 19th minute cross to send Old Trafford wild and put United firmly in control of the tie.
United were determined to savour their dominance and Ronaldo fired in their fourth just before half time. The Portuguese winger was in typically brilliant form and added his second when he turned in Giggs's cross after 49 minutes.
But the hosts weren't finished there. Carrick made it six with another superb 25-yard strike and, after Daniele De Rossi pulled one back for Roma, Patrice Evra completed the humiliation with an 81st minute drive to seal United's biggest ever Champions League victory.
Ugly clashes
However, sixteen fans - 12 English and four Italian - were charged yesterday after clashes with police marred the match, police said.
They were charged after violence flared briefly between up to 100 rival fans outside the Old Trafford stadium.
Television pictures showed officers circling crowds with batons and dogs as well as some missiles being thrown at police. Fans were later shown being escorted into the ground just over an hour before the match started.
The group face a range of different charges including possession of a bladed weapon, criminal damage and public order offences, a spokeswoman for Greater Manchester Police said.
The four Italians appeared at Manchester City Magistrates Court for a preliminary hearing yesterday morning, while the English fans will appear at Trafford Magistrates Court in Manchester later.
At last week's clash in Rome, which Roma won 2-1, several United fans needed hospital treatment after being stabbed before the match, while Italian police baton-charged the visiting supporters during the first half.
AFP
(China Daily 04/12/2007 page23)
