Really hope Roma go through tonight. At 4/5 it doesn’t look bad value especially considering who Manchester have missing.
Trouble already outside the ground already. Yet another match involving an English club to be overshadowed by violence?
Matt Cooper on the Last Word said it’s pretty rough over there.
Heard reports of fighting on the half six news there on the radio. Any details?
Early report from BBC:
nice of them to call the Roma Ultras “notrious” without any such labels for the United fans.
They also claim it was “mainly Roma fans” which is a nice way of apportioning blame when the police quotes (and the radio reporter I heard) both only said both sets of fans were involved.
Last Updated: Tuesday, 10 April 2007, 17:19 GMT 18:19 UK
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Fans clash with police at Man Utd
Greater Manchester Police officers made several arrests after a confrontation in front of the ground.
The situation involved several dozen mainly Roma fans and was soon brought under control by officers with batons and police horses and dogs.
Almost 4,000 Roma fans are expected at the quarter-final second leg tie.
BBC sportsnews correspondent James Munro described the atmosphere outside Old Trafford as “tense and unpleasant”.
Police dog units and mounted officers became involved with a series of scuffles with supporters close to the club shop on Sir Matt Busby Way at about 1750 BST.
Fans are understood to have hurled bottles and missiles at police lines outside the ground. There are no reports of anybody being injured.
Police sources told the BBC that the “isolated” trouble - which involved fans of both teams - was contained within five minutes.
A police spokesman said: "There have been a few incidents but they have been fairly isolated and we are dealing with them as they happen.
“There have been some arrests to maintain the peace at the ground. The trouble has involved a mix of fans from both sides.”
BBC radio reporter James Alexander said extra security was very much in evidence outside the stadium.
“There are lots of security personnel and extra police cars and vans around the stadium,” he said.
“It has been classified as a Category C match which is the highest alert there is for a match at Old Trafford. It is on a par with a home match against Liverpool.”
The visiting fans will be in the second tier of the East Stand, meaning they will be sat at the same end of the ground as United fans.
Roma’s managing director Rosella Sensi earlier insisted their fans would behave impeccably.
Sensi said: "It is right to call for calm. But our fans know how to behave whether they are in Italy or abroad.
“It’s a very important game for Roma but we are approaching it calmly.”
Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium
Police quickly calmed the situation
The police match commander at Old Trafford is confident the match will pass off peacefully and that the Italian club’s notorious fans will not travel.
Supt Charlie Coxon, of Greater Manchester Police, said: "History shows the ultras don’t travel abroad.
"We have Italian police officers with us. If any of the known ultras do appear, they will see them.
“We have a full police operation at Manchester Airport to make sure everything is very safe. But we don’t expect any of them to come.”
The Independent Manchester United Supporters Association said trouble was not expected in the return match.
“We all need to make sure that there are no headlines in Manchester to wipe out the memory of those made by the Italian police last week in Rome,” said IMUSA in a statement.
“The Roma fans at Old Trafford on Tuesday will be just like most of our fans who went to Rome last week and will be there only to watch the football.”
Uefa is to investigate the trouble from the first leg, which could lead to disciplinary action for both United and Roma.
Just watching Sky there - you can see the MIB charging at the Roma fans as they were waiting to go into the stadium. It wasn’t a huge deal, but a bit more aggressive than I was expecting from the reports and it could kick off later.
Watching it on Sky here.
At least their reporter outside the ground had the balls to say there was ManU fans involved. He mentioned ‘males all dressed in black’ charging at Roma fans - that’ll be their Men In Black then.
It seems the police were trying to get the Roma fans into the ground extremely early before any flashpoints could arise but the MIB were awaiting their arrival.
Some guy from a ManU fanzine is saying it’s all the fault of the Roma fans who travelled on unofficial packages and ManU fans, because they were targeted unfairly last week, are still very sore about this and can’t be held responsible for getting involved in fights. What an idiot!
Prediction for tonight:
I think Roma will do it. I reckon they’ve enough quality and tactical awareness to keep it quiet at the back and hit United on the counter attack.
Not sure about Chivu and Mexes though. I like them both individually, but I’m not sure if they’re dominant enough as a pairing. Still think they’ll do it though.
ManU team in:
Van der Sar;
O’Shea; Ferdinand; Brown;Heinze;
Ronaldo; Carrick; Fletcher; Giggs;
Rooney; Smith;
Think if ManU play 4-2-3-1 with Carrick and Fletcher sitting then they have a chance. I’d probably play Rooney on the left and get him making late diagonal runs into the box with Ronaldo on the right running at them. I think I’d give Giggs a free role in between these two behind Smith and his performance will be the key. He’ll need to knit the whole thing together, link up with the midfield and the wide men and get up in support of Smith.
If they do that they could turn the tie around very quickly.
I expect a lot of goals.
4-0. Hopfully they’ll go through now ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
You might just be right Flano.
In fairness I called it when I saw their team.
Check back thru my posts if you like.
7.1 who would have thought that. Giggs, Ronnie, Rooney, Carrick and Fletcher stood out for me. Roma were a shambles. I thought that last week they didnt do enough at home to win the tie. Said before the match to a mate that isnt this the team that Boro put out in the Uefa Cup last season. United at home can beat anyone. hi5
Glad Chelsea got through( 2 more games for them) so that at least one team surely going to be English. Now what are the odds on Psv turning pool over tomorrow. :smoke:
a suspicious late edit around the half time mark but i’m sure it was just to amend a typo…
cracking performance, once it went to 3-0 Roma were shattered and never looked capable of recovering. Never seen a team take so many long range shots (they had something like 22 to man u’s 26 shots, most of which came from Totti who was pretty pants). Couldn’t beleive they waited until the last 5 mins to make a substitution - good vote of confidence in the bench!
Yeah I agree - you can’t argue with United tonight. Great performance and have put down the marker. Switched after the second goal out of sheer disgust but flicked back intermittingly.
I remember seeing Roma play Liverpool in 2002 in the final match of the group stages. Liverpool needed to win 2-0 to qualify. Houllier returned after his heart surgery and there was a terrific atmosphere. Roma simply lay down and let Liverpool walk all over them. I particularly remember Walter Samuel being roasted by the great Emile Heskey.
ManU were awesome tonight so credit where it’s due. Ferguson totally surprised everyone with the tactics and formation and all the players were smashing. Thought Giggs was superb for the 60 odd minutes he was on as were Ronaldo, Carrick and Fletcher. If Fletcher played like that every week ManU would never consider selling him but he’s a Scottish bhoy and a Celtic supporter so I’d take him on that form any day of the week.
Fletcher really surprised me last night. I remember watching him play against Celtic in the US maybe 3 pre-seasons ago and he was sensational. I thought he was the real deal but he never delivered on that potential. Last night he was excellent in his energy, tackling and passing.
Manchester were excellent last night. Played some lovely football and had a great attitude. Roma seemed to give up early on and Manchester took full advantage. Well done to them. Disagree on Fletcher lads. He is a decent player in the Phil Neville mould at best. Works hard yeah but I really hope Celtic don’t sign him. He would add very little to the squad.