CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTER-FINAL, SECOND LEG Manchester Utd (2) AS Roma (0):AMID ALL the talk of Rio Ferdinand's bruised foot, Nemanja Vidic's knee and Cristiano Ronaldo's habit of infuriating opponents, one fact should not be overlooked as Manchester United prepare to renew acquaintances with Roma at Old Trafford tonight.
It is that no side since the Champions League's inception in 1992 have lost in the knockout phase after winning the first leg 2-0.
For it to happen tonight, with United as the proposed victims, is almost inconceivable given the way Alex Ferguson's team performed in the Stadio Olimpico eight days ago.
There is also the fact the Premier League leaders have won their past 10 European ties on their own ground, setting a Champions League record in the process.
The United manager, however, was at pains not to seem presumptuous yesterday as he assessed his team's chances of making it to the semi-finals for a second successive season. Complacency to Ferguson is a sin for any successful footballer and he argued that United's passage into the semi-finals was "not a certainty". He did not want his team to do "anything silly" and he resisted any suggestion that the game was a formality.
"Let's be sensible," he said. "We've got one foot in the semi-final. The best way to get both feet in is to approach the game in a proper fashion. We can't look upon the performance in Rome as a pass into the semi-final. In a situation like this we have leeway, but we've never taken anything for granted and we're not going to either. We are looking upon this match as the most important of the season for us."
The emphasis, he said, would be on scoring first. Roma will be missing their talisman, Francesco Totti, and the chances of them recovering from what is already a two-goal deficit are somewhere between minuscule and nonexistent. "There are 90 minutes to play and as long as that clock keeps ticking away it's against Roma," said Ferguson.
"The clock is against them so they will have to do something, which may suit us because on the counter-attack we're very good. We'll try to attack as best as we can and we'll play our normal game. If we score first it will take the pressure off us and give an even bigger problem to Roma."
Ferguson is too experienced to say anything he might later regret but, privately, he might be forced to admit that if United were to go out of the competition it would rank as one of the great surprises in any era of this competition. His players have certainly made a favourable impression on the Italian media and, at a hectic press conference, the United manager was asked whether he thought he had the best team in Europe.
"The only way to assess it is if we get to the final," he replied. "In football you can be the best team and lose. I've seen it happen time and time again. It's why, for example, we're not in the FA Cup final. Hopefully, by the law of averages, our performances will mean something at the end of the season. But it won't be easy. If we get by this one then we'll face Barcelona, a marvellous football club with a great team."
In actual fact Barcelona have still to make certain of their place in the last four. The Catalan club, like United, are overwhelming favourites to progress, having beaten Schalke 04 of the Bundesliga 1-0 in Gelsenkirchen last week, but there are grounds to believe their side are not as good as the one that won the competition two years ago, and it was put to Ferguson that his team were in a strong position to reach the final for the first time since 1999.
"The sensible approach is for us to wait until after the game against Roma," the manager cautioned. "Then hopefully we can start to dream. If we get to the semi-finals, all four teams can start thinking about the final."
Park Ji-Sung, the United midfielder, was less wary. "We think we can win the double of the Champions League and the Premier League," he said. And, intriguingly, most of the Italian journalists nodded in agreement.
Guardian Service
Venue: Old Trafford Kick-off: 7.45 On TV: RTE 2
