Ronaldo: Roma Pleaded For Mercy
Times: The humiliation that they suffered at the hands of Manchester United last season has yet to subside for many of the AS Roma players, but, while Sir Alex Ferguson moved to quell talk of revenge from the Italian side before another potentially explosive meeting at Old Trafford this evening, Cristiano Ronaldo was less than diplomatic in rubbing salt into old wounds.
Having arrived at Old Trafford in April with every confidence of progressing to the last four of the Champions League after beating United 2-1 in the first leg of their quarter-final at the Olympic Stadium, Roma were taken apart.
A 7-1 defeat was the Italian club’s heaviest in European competition and, while no one associated with Roma will need reminding of that, Ronaldo was content to recount the extent of their misery yesterday – a revelation that is unlikely to sit well with a team nursing their pride before this evening’s group F encounter.
The United winger claimed that, at 6-0 down, one of the opposition had pleaded with him to show mercy, but, although the Portugal winger declined to reveal the identity of that player, to judge from the comments this week of Christian Panucci, who accused some of the United team of “abusing their superiority” during the match, it could well have been the Roma full back.
“I often get some comments from opposition players that bring a smile to my face,” Ronaldo, who scored twice in the romp, said. “It happened during the last match against Roma when we were already winning 6-0. ‘Don’t do any more dribbles, you are already winning by six,’ said one of them, almost begging.”
Ferguson admitted to feeling anxious when United were drawn against Roma again because the match has provided so much in the way of motivation for Luciano Spalletti’s team, but the manager’s biggest concern was the fitness of Nemanja Vidic and Wes Brown, especially after Edwin van der Sar, the goalkeeper, was ruled out because of a toe injury.
Neither defender trained yesterday morning after taking knocks in the 1-0 win away to Birmingham City on Saturday, so Gerard Piqué and John O’Shea have been put on standby, while Owen Hargreaves, the midfield player, is facing a race to be fit.
With his team struggling for goals - Birmingham were the sixth side United have beaten by the only goal in their past eight matches – Ferguson has been indebted to his defence and the loss of Brown, who has deputised brilliantly at right back in the absence of the injured Gary Neville, and Vidic, his defensive linchpin, would represent a huge blow, especially against a team who, according to Patrice Evra, the full back, will have “the knife between their teeth”.
United have scored only two more goals in ten games this season than they did against Roma at home last season, but Wayne Rooney is convinced that he can make his partnership with Carlos Tévez work and even expressed confidence yesterday that the team can win the Champions League this season, having lost in the semi-finals to AC Milan last term.
“Carlos is getting better with each game and is good to play with,” the England forward said. “When I play with Carlos, it’s a different role for myself. I try and play on the shoulder a lot more and let him be the link between the midfield and forwards; I’m happy to do that.
“I’m desperate to win the Champions League, having got so close last season. We didn’t play the way we can and it cost us in the away leg against AC Milan, but, hopefully, we can get to the final this year and try and win it from there.
“I think we’re a bit more experienced a year on and the players we have brought in will add that extra freshness, which I think we needed towards the end of last season.”
