Champions League Quarter Finals Leg 1

Mitch Connor

well, as a united supporter the game was disappointing for all reasons.

The business with the fans is most disappointing though.

I will not condone the initial reaction of the United fans to the provocation of the Roma fans, theey crossed the police line to get to the barrier, it was stupid. However, the manner of the Italian riot police response was disgusting - not only did the beat anything that moved and had an english accent, regardless of them being prone on the ground at the time, they did absolutely nothing about the Roma fans on the other side of the barrier, who were far more aggresive and provocational - along with the fact they hurled several missiles into the united area (some of which were stupidly thrown back later on)

What annoys me the most about it is that, yet again, Uefa are ready to blame the english. United fans got blamed for the violence at Lens, when to anyone that looked at the video footage and read the accounts it was clear the policing on that occasion was aggressive, violent, disproportionate and dangerous (United fans being beaten til they ran away from the stadium, only to get beaten by the line of riot police til they ran back up to the stadium to get a beating of the first lot again)

But, it is oh so easy to blame the english. The United fans that traveled know this, and shouldn't have reacted, but the response to their reaction was over-the-top and a disgrace - games should not be allowed to be policed like that. Anyone who knows anythign about crowd control knows that is not how to deal with the situation that arose, but then the G8 summit and protests showed the Italian police love a good fight, and aren't afraid of injury people regardless of what they have, or have not done.

Mitch Connor

eirebhoy wrote:

Nothing to do with the disgraceful beating but why do most United travelling fans never wear colour? A lot of them just look like trouble makers tbh.

http://i7.tinypic.com/2rnkndl.jpg

Wear your teams colours, sing a few songs and have a party.

On the video, what was the guy in the shirt doing? Mad man charging at Italian police like that.

Fans were advised not to wear their team colours on this trip - because of the Roma Ultra's party piece - coming up on scooters behind away supporters in the street, and stabbing them - as happened to too many boro fans last year, and arsenal fans a few years before. The Roma Ultras (well, nearly all Ultras of any italian team) are violent scum who shouldn't have a place in football, but are actively encouraged by the actions of their club and inaction of the governing bodies.

super_furry

Don't forget this either http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/1694824.stm

I was at that game at I'll never, ever go back to Italy for a football match. Their fans should be locked up. It happens at every single European game in Rome (Middlesbrough and Leeds got the same treatment, with fans being stabbed) and Italian clubs should seriously be kicked out of Europe - from corrupt clubs to murdering policemen to throwing motorbikes from the stands, Italian football is corrupt from top to bottom.

Just FYI -

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=388863&&cc=5739

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/03/16/nstab16.xml

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/world/2004-09-21-europe-roundup_x.htm

http://msn.skysports.com/skysports/article/0,,7-1103110,00.html

http://archives.tcm.ie/breakingnews/2001/02/16/story4194.asp

cournioni

eirebhoy wrote:

Nothing to do with the disgraceful beating but why do most United travelling fans never wear colour? A lot of them just look like trouble makers tbh.

http://i7.tinypic.com/2rnkndl.jpg

Wear your teams colours, sing a few songs and have a party.

On the video, what was the guy in the shirt doing? Mad man charging at Italian police like that.

They don't wear United shirts because on their anti-Glazier stance. They boycott all United sponsors and merchandise because of it. Add that to the fact that they were asked not to wear their colours in Rome and that should flush your theory down the drain.

I'm pretty sure that chair was thrown after the police started beating United fans, you can actually see it on the sky news footage linked here somewhere.

United fans were wrong to run towards the barrier, as much as the Roma fans were. But the police handling of it was absolutely disgraceful. I was speaking to one of my mates that was at the game and he said that they were treated like animals even before the incidents.

dr.bollocko

The scenes from inside the stadium as shown on sky sports and the links above are just shocking.
Some really brutal, hard to watch fare there.
Even on Sky news they noticed how the Roma fans on one side of the fence were delicately ushered away by stewards, whilst the Utd fans were knocked ****e out of by the over-zealous police.
I can't see how anyone can blame Utd fans for that at all. It was just police brutality. Look at the way they moved in on the attack, smacking out at anyone in their way. Look at the videos and see the fans cowering in fear, curled up bleeding on the floor, still getting beaten. See the fans trapped trying to get away from the police because they know they will get a thump just for being nearby. That sort of total over-reaction by the police has marred what was an exciting game.

Pighead

eirebhoy wrote:

Roma tonight were 10 times better than they were at home to Lyon but they're more an away team.

Wouldn't agree with that. Their away form in the league has been average at best and they've only won 2 of their last 11 away games. In the group stages of the Champions Leagues they lost to both Valencia and Shaktar Donetsk and their only away win came in *******kos.

Last night was an opportunity lost for Roma. 2-0 or 3-1 and United would have been all but out but at 2-1 you'd have to say its Advantage United.

super_furry

Pighead wrote:

Last night was an opportunity lost for Roma. 2-0 or 3-1 and United would have been all but out but at 2-1 you'd have to say its Advantage United.

How is it advantage United? They're losing.

Pighead

super_furry wrote:

How is it advantage United? They're losing.

The precious away goal my friend. United are favourites to go through now.

daveg

super_furry wrote:

How is it advantage United? They're losing.

I agree with Pighead./ I'm delighted with an away goal and only 1 goal down. We only need win 1-0 at home (only :rolleyes: ). On the other hand if I were a Roma fan I wouldn't be happy. Roma dominated the match, were playing against 10 men at home and only win 2-1. We did well under the circumstances.

super_furry

Yes, they have an away goal but Roma only need to draw to progress, so it's definately advantage Roma.

cournioni

super_furry wrote:

Yes, they have an away goal but Roma only need to draw to progress, so it's definately advantage Roma.

They need a draw at Old Trafford, United have only drawn one and lost one game there this year so far... I think that is a decent advantage to United right there.

super_furry

Yes, but they're LOSING. They're behind. They are not winning.

Anyway, I think Roma will go through and it'll be Ferguson's fault. He'll try to get clever and put Rooney on the wing and play one up front at Old Trafford, which will play straight into Roma's hands. If he lets them play their normal game, it might be different, but don't forget just how good Roma are at playing away from home on the break.

Ronan|Raven

There has been trouble in rome going back nearly 30 years, roma fans on mopeds slashing fans etc. I fail to see how people are surprised by their being trouble there.

masterK

I'm less optimistic than most about United advancing, the one thing you don't want to do is give an Italian side something to defend.

I was really shocked by the carry on of the Roma players, after all the talk by them about Ronaldo diving it was a disgrace the way their players went to ground after every tackle and even worse how the referee fell for it most of the time. Look at the foul by Scholes for the 2nd yellow card, I counted Totti roll 5 times once he hit the ground. It was a foul no doubt and probably a deserved booking but the reaction of Totti was terrible.

cournioni

In fairness to SAF, he played 4-4-2 last night with Rooney and Solskjaer up front until Scholes lost the head. United are "losing" as far as the tie is concerned, but all United need is a 1-0 win and going on Roma's attacking play, they really don't scare me at all.

Two fortunate goals against ten men for over 60 minutes? I believe United can come through the home tie quite comfortably.

Mitch Connor

PORNAPSTER wrote:

In fairness to SAF, he played 4-4-2 last night with Rooney and Solskjaer up front until Scholes lost the head. United are "losing" as far as the tie is concerned, but all United need is a 1-0 win and going on Roma's attacking play, they really don't scare me at all.

Two fortunate goals against ten men for over 60 minutes? I believe United can come through the home tie quite comfortably.

2-1 flattered us though, imo anyway. They could have been two up in 10 minutes, and they missed a few nice chances during the game too. I'd certainly prefer to be in Roma's position.

Pighead

super_furry wrote:

Yes, but they're LOSING. They're behind. They are not winning.

Anyway, I think Roma will go through and it'll be Ferguson's fault. He'll try to get clever and put Rooney on the wing and play one up front at Old Trafford, which will play straight into Roma's hands. If he lets them play their normal game, it might be different, but don't forget just how good Roma are at playing away from home on the break.

I have a funny feeling that if the 1st leg had of been played at Old Trafford and United won 2-1 you'd be here saying that United blew it and Roma will take them in the 2nd leg.

The Insider

PHB wrote:

Ronaldo was the United MOM again, top class performance from him. Notice Giles ignored the stuff he says about him, doesn't praise him at all, despite him being the best United player out there by a mile, and really being incredible, hell even the Roma players praised him.

Not sure how you come up with that. Rooney was Utd's MOM for me, took his goal brilliantly and worked his socks off, keeping the ball etc. To be honest wasn't that impressed with Ronaldo lost the ball numerous times in the 2nd half when on the counter. That game should have suited him last night as there was huge amounts of space for him to run at defenders but he just kept running up blind alleys. Best player in the world my ar**.

raven136

Despite united's utter dominance in the league their champions league performances have been very poor.Had roma got a decent striker(any striker) the tie would have been over already and now one goal is all roma really need.

Unlike teams such as blackburn etc who come to old trafford sore,then get overwhelmed,roma and other champions league teams all have defenders who are excellent and wont be bothered by that.

Ronaldo in particular was poor last night and united will need a big game from him and giggs next week.Its all well and good saying that it's advantage united but remember they have no paul scholes,who makes them tick.

Green_Martian

raven136 wrote:

Ronaldo in particular was poor last night and united will need a big game from him and giggs next week.

Are you haveing a laugh??????????????

Who was the player who picked the ball up in his own half and ran at 3 Roma players, passing it to Ole who then passed it to Rooney to score....mmmmmmm Let me think...........Ronaldo :rolleyes:

They will need to put in a very big performance next week, especially with Scholes out

DerekD Goldfish

i've no problem with utd fans getting beaten around the place by the police, so long as the same happens the roma fans.

Do you honestly expect this?
In every single country police are going to be biased agaisnt home fans
If Ireland were playing england and the english charged the Irish regardless of who was throwing missiles at who the gardai would be beating the crap out of the english.
Im sure plently of innocent man utd fan got hit last night but there was also english fans not involved in trouble that got hit in landsdown in 1995.
If your in another country and you attempt to attack the oposing fans you will never get an even handed responce in any country.

raven136

agree ronaldo did set up the goal but apart from that there was very little else,where as the tracking back,the defensive part of a massive game away from home.
On the police...it was just disgraceful but uefa will blame the english fans.If and god forbid it doesnt, something happens in the future at anfield,old trafford or stamford bridge the english team would be thrown out.
Understandable in a way why the police didnt stand near the roma fans,these pschyos already killed one of their members so they would have no problem doing it again whereas the united fans being decent human beings mite not kill them

DerekD Goldfish

Understandable in a way why the police didnt stand near the roma fans,these pschyos already killed one of their members

and here is me thinking the policman died due to Catana fans

raven136

I meant italian fans in general,they dont exactly have much time for the police at their games and routinely attack them.
I believe uefa want to see the video and check if an inquiry should be made into what happened,surely the sensible thing would be to allow no fans in till the violence stops

DerekD Goldfish

raven136 wrote:

I meant italian fans in general,they dont exactly have much time for the police at their games and routinely attack them.
I believe uefa want to see the video and check if an inquiry should be made into what happened,surely the sensible thing would be to allow no fans in till the violence stops

No fans into United games?
No fans into roma games?
No fans into any Italian games?

super_furry

Italian clubs should be banned from Europe, it's the only way they will ever acknoledge that there's a serious problem.

eirebhoy

Nunu wrote:

There was a lot of talk on RTE about how brave Ferguson was by leaving his attacking players on when down to 10 men. Well, yes and no as far as I'm concerned. I mean who was this defensive minded player to spring from the bench. There were no defenders there and fletcher is just back from injury. The others were all strikers Dong, Smith and Saha. One thing it did confirm is that Fergie does not trust/rate Richardson. He could have been brought on to bolster the middle, yet although fully fit didn't even get a run out.

Whether Ferguson had a choice or not it was exactly what managers should be doing. When a player gets sent off in an away game you expect the team to hold on and put plenty of players behind the ball. At the same time the home team is all out attack to take advantage. I think bringing on attacking players gave Man Utd a psychological edge. At the end of the day, the only difference was they had 1 striker instead of 2. Solksjaer might aswell not have been playing anyway but for his cross to set the goal up.

Pighead wrote:

Wouldn't agree with that. Their away form in the league has been average at best and they've only won 2 of their last 11 away games. In the group stages of the Champions Leagues they lost to both Valencia and Shaktar Donetsk and their only away win came in *******kos.

Yeah I know I just think Roma are a much better team on the break than they are when forced to break teams down. It has more to do with the opposition than the fact that they're away from home. Man Utd will come at them just as much as Lyon did. I love Roma's counter attacking and that'll be their game in the 2nd leg.

Hopefully Tonetto's back. Without him it forces Panucci onto his wrong side and Cassetti isn't as good a right back as Panucci. Also, Pizarro will be back. He's like Pirlo to Milan.

I think Roma will qualify anyway.

raven136

Roma should be forced to change their fans behaviour,if not ban them and in the mean time they should not be allowed to have home or away fans in europe.If the behaviour is allowed to continue it will just get worse and worse.
United should also be held accountable for their away fans,they were wrong to react to the provaction of the roma fans after the goal and they did charge a police line,that said the police reaction was terrible.

cournioni

DerekD Goldfish wrote:

Do you honestly expect this?
In every single country police are going to be biased agaisnt home fans
If Ireland were playing england and the english charged the Irish regardless of who was throwing missiles at who the gardai would be beating the crap out of the english.
Im sure plently of innocent man utd fan got hit last night but there was also english fans not involved in trouble that got hit in landsdown in 1995.
If your in another country and you attempt to attack the oposing fans you will never get an even handed responce in any country.

You're missing one important factor in that comparison. The Roma fans charged the United fans, prompting a reaction from United fans. The Ireland fans didn't charge the England fans in 95.

If United fans charged Roma fans at Old Trafford and the Roma fans react, you can bet your house on arrests and use of force on both sets of supporters, not just the Roma supporters.

PHB

Not sure how you come up with that. Rooney was Utd's MOM for me, took his goal brilliantly and worked his socks off, keeping the ball etc. To be honest wasn't that impressed with Ronaldo lost the ball numerous times in the 2nd half when on the counter. That game should have suited him last night as there was huge amounts of space for him to run at defenders but he just kept running up blind alleys. Best player in the world my ar**.

Eh, he lost the ball once on the counter. He created the Rooney goal in case you've forgotten, Rooney took it well, but Ronaldo was the one who made the goal happen with a tremendous run from the back.
Sky gave him a 9 our of ten
BBC called him 'the outstanding Ronaldo'

agree ronaldo did set up the goal but apart from that there was very little else,where as the tracking back,the defensive part of a massive game away from home.

Once Scholes got sent off, Ronaldo was the striker. This is what I love about people who hate ROnaldo, anything he doesn't do perfectly is a sign he is ****. I swear to god, it's like criticising Henry for not tracking back. Last night Ronnie was a striker, if he tracked back, the team would have nobody to pass to. That said, if he did track back, you'd probably criticise him for that too.




Some of the stuff here is hilarious:

Anyway, I think Roma will go through and it'll be Ferguson's fault. He'll try to get clever and put Rooney on the wing and play one up front at Old Trafford, which will play straight into Roma's hands.

Ok, if he plays a 4-5-1 it will play straight into Roma's hands?
Because?

don't forget just how good Roma are at playing away from home on the break.

So lets get this straight, if he plays a defensive formation, he will be playing into Roma's hands, cause they will hit them on the break, but if he plays an attacking formation, he will have problems, cause Roma will hit them on the break.
Gee, break must have changed meaning.

Roma weren't that impressive in attack last night, they should have scored more, but they didn't. That means something. Also you forget, we played most of the game with ten men! Before that, it was 0-0 and Roma didn't look like scoring at all. 10 United vs. 11 Roma = 1-2 to Roma. I think 11 United vs. 11 Roma might be a bit more even a game

Had roma got a decent striker(any striker) the tie would have been over already

This one is pretty funny. Roma don't play with a striker! If they did, they'd be a totally different team. Their entire game is in their midfield and Totti scoring, that's their whole game plan, every single match.
If their midfielders could finish better, then they would have scored a lot more, but they can't.

Yeah I know I just think Roma are a much better team on the break than they are when forced to break teams down. It has more to do with the opposition than the fact that they're away from home. Man Utd will come at them just as much as Lyon did. I love Roma's counter attacking and that'll be their game in the 2nd leg.

Hopefully Tonetto's back. Without him it forces Panucci onto his wrong side and Cassetti isn't as good a right back as Panucci. Also, Pizarro will be back. He's like Pirlo to Milan.

I think Roma will qualify anyway.

Yeh, but then again, if United score, which I think you agree they easily could, then they have to attack, and it plays into United's hand, etc etc etc. The game is still open for the taking, I think we all agree that.



Roma really have to score, so if United keep it tight, and get the goal from a moment of magic, it will force Roma to try break us down, which they aren't that good at as you pointed out. You assume United are going to go at them full guns blazing, which necessarily the case.

What people seem to be forgetting though, is the loss of Scholes, which is huge.
It means the team will probably be,

---

VDS

---

---O'Shea

---

Brown

---

Rio

---

Heinze----
---Ronaldo---Carrick

---

Fletcher---Giggs--

---

Saha

---

Rooney

---

That's actually a more defensive formation, and you could see the effect Fletcher had defensivly last night, sure'd up the game for United. United can't go all out attack, cause we currently don't have the midfield for it
It will be two defensive MC's sitting in a holding type role, with
Rooney dropping deep in the middle, and Ronaldo and Giggs on the wings. We could even see a 4-5-1 style formation, with Rooney on the left and Giggs in the middle. We also have Park back, who has a pretty good European pedigree.

Also, Roma won't get away with tripping Ronaldo every chance they can get, as they will get booked at Old Trafford a lot quicker.

People talk about the loss of Vidic etc, and that's huge, but the loss of Saha has had an equally effect on our overall attacking play. He will get a game of match fitness against Portsmouth this weekend, and then should be in the Roma squad fresh. He has 4 goals in 6 matches,
and has been what got United through Europe this season.

I don't think United are dead cert favorites or anything, but I think the game is certainly quite open, and I think either side have a good chance of taking it. People forget, United have been **** in Europe since 2001. This is the furtherest we've gotten in ages, and I'd be happy enough to go out at this stage, since we got to the 1/4's :P

raven136

sky gave him 9 out of ten and the bbc said he was outstanding(had they no gold stars left?).My god i must change my opinion because those unbiased,ever critical"the premier league is the worlds best legaue"anaylsts on sky said he was good.
Ronaldo is a good player but when someone says he had a bad game its taken as meaning that you think he's overrated,i in fact thinks he's a great player i just thought he had a poor game

leninbenjamin

PHB wrote:

---

VDS

---

---O'Shea

---

Brown

---

Rio

---

Heinze----
---Ronaldo---Carrick

---

Fletcher---Giggs--

---

Saha

---

Rooney

---

any chance of Park being fit for the return? I was wondering if SAF would play Giggs in the middle instead of Fletcher and have Park on the wings, as you would imagine having Giggs in the middle would be better for holding possession than Fletcher.

I didn't feel Ronaldo was deserving of MotM myself, he was good overall, but he also lost possession quite a bit, especially in the early stages of the game. Excellent for the goal build up though.

PHB

as you would imagine having Giggs in the middle would be better for holding possession than Fletcher.

I wouldn't agree actually, Giggs is quite clearly a better player, but Fletcher can keep the ball, and pass it sideways with the best of them.

I don't think Ronaldo got MOM, I think Totti probably did, someone from Roma anyway. Just in terms of United, I thought Ronaldo was the best. Although that run from Rooney really brought back memories from his form last year, so I hope he gets back to his old self.

BKtje

I'd say the fans to blame for the death of the policeman a few weeks ago were sitting at home in Sicily watching the match on tv.

Logic doesn't usually prevail in the human spirit when the **** hits the fan as i'm pretty sure you know. The police saw footie fans and went at it. You are always hearing about this kidna **** in italy so it's not totally surprising what happened.

I dunno about it being advantage Man u but i do think they are in a strong position.

What i do find weird is that Scholes will still only miss one game due to the sending off (same as he would have gotten with just a yellow) if manu progress.

RE*AC*TOR

While the away goal certainly makes the picture somewhat better for UTD. They really are missing a lot of players now. And with Scholes out as well for the return leg it will be a nervous evening for UTD fans.

Chelsea having conceeded an away goal now face a tough task away to Valencia. Although Chelsea can on their day beat anyone. So who knows?

Two ties in the balance.

Personally as a Liverpool fan, I feel Liverpool would have a better chance of progressing against foreign opposition, so I will be rooting for Roma and Valencia. If Liverpool were out at this stage that might be different.

Pighead

eirebhoy wrote:

Yeah I know I just think Roma are a much better team on the break than they are when forced to break teams down. It has more to do with the opposition than the fact that they're away from home. Man Utd will come at them just as much as Lyon did. I love Roma's counter attacking and that'll be their game in the 2nd leg.

Hopefully Tonetto's back. Without him it forces Panucci onto his wrong side and Cassetti isn't as good a right back as Panucci. Also, Pizarro will be back. He's like Pirlo to Milan.

I think Roma will qualify anyway.

So basically you're saying that if United score first next Tuesday, Roma are fcuked! Nice one. I'm even more confident of United progressing now.

PHB

sky gave him 9 out of ten and the bbc said he was outstanding(had they no gold stars left?).My god i must change my opinion because those unbiased,ever critical"the premier league is the worlds best legaue"anaylsts on sky said he was good.

Wayne Rooney ended his Champions League goal drought but it was his team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo who drew praise from Roma veteran defender Christian Panucci.

"If he takes off with the ball you will never catch him," said the former Italy international.

"You could compare him to motorcycling world champion Valentino Rossi. If I was given the same engine as him then perhaps I could catch him."

Yeh, it's just bias

redspider

An interesting evening of football for Chelsea and Man Utd. Both ties are finely balanced and could go either way, although you would think on paper that both Man Utd and Chelsea will still get through. Football isn't played on paper, thankfully.

Chelsea have the hardest task being at 1-1 and conceding that away goal. In footballing terms they remain dangerous though and I can see them getting an away goal at Valencia. Of course it could end 1-1, with extra time and penalties, or even a 2-1 loss but I think they will definitely score. Its all to play for though for both clubs and whilst Valencia will be pleased with getting the away goal, they know they have a massive fight remaining. Finely balanced in my opinion and difficult to call.

In terms of Man Utd, their away goal is a godsend and puts them at a slight advantage to Roma. The goal was down to some very good work by Ronaldo, and like him or lump him, he is producing more end-product this season and is a very strong factor as to Man Utd's success. The Roma defender was woeful against Rooney and left him with a clear shot and time. This tie is also finely balanced, but I think that if Man Utd go at them from the start, and they surely will, and get a goal, then they should go on. At 1-0, I cant see Roma coming back from that and Man Utd may go on to get another one or even two. Roma will have to play out of their skins to keep a blank score sheet. It is possible, but not likely in my opinion. Of course, football being football, an away goal by Roma if scored from a free-kick or something would set the cat among the pigeons.

I think Ferguson was brave last night to risk and get the away-goal even when down to 10-men, as trying to stay with a 1-0 would have suited Man Utd and probably Roma as well.


Ironically, as a result of these two matches, Paddypower have installed Liverpool as favourites to win the whole thing. They clearly are in pole position in their tie and be in a semi, but saying they have the best chance of winning the CL at this juncture is for me a bit fanciful.


Crowd Trouble
I didnt see any of this during the game transmission itself. From what I saw of the snippets on websites this morning, there are clearly a number of wrongs. For one, the approach by some Man Utd fans with fists flailing etc at the Italian Police. That generated an over-zealous response from the Police and it clearly caught up some innocent people. There were wrongs on the Man Utd side and Uefa will take a close look at the trouble I am sure. No dounbt there were wrongs on the Roma side too. I'd say if Uefa are smart they should ban Man Utd fans from going to the away leg in the next round. Maybe ban Roma fans as well as a balanced judgement. I'm sure Man Utd fans and the club and indeed the players would be happy enough with that.

I agree with some of the comments that football in Italy is badly ran, etc, with the Ultra's having far too much influence, etc. Italy needs to clean up its act but this is not news and is well known in Italy as well. The problems have been created over several generations and will take a while to dismantle.

Redspider

Chardee MacDennis

http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=458948&CPID=5&clid=1&lid=15&title=Fans+hurt+as+Uefa+await+report&channel=&

just to back up what i said earlier. dont blame the united fans completely while they were idiots to react - the roma fans were worse and instigated it.

i love when people only see one side of the argument.

and in case i get crap i am a liverpool fan.

redspider

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

Personally as a Liverpool fan, I feel Liverpool would have a better chance of progressing against foreign opposition, so I will be rooting for Roma and Valencia.

Yeah, its hard to know who would be better for Liverpool, of course that's pesuming Liverpool get through as there is still 90 mins to play and I fr one dont count chickens!

I think Liverpool have as good as chance against Chelsea as against Valencia. We do reasonably well against Chelsea but the games will be very tight. Valencia, is Rafa's old club, so he knows them but they know him as well so I think it's unlike say playing a Barca or a Real Madrid or indeed a Bayern where I really would fancy our chances.

The most likely final is Liverpool v Man Utd ..... (according to PaddyPower). That would bring the 'derby match' to a whole new level. Lets just see how the quarters play out .....

Redspider

MisterAnarchy

I remember the last time United only had to win 1-0 ;against Porto.
They got the early goal then decided to sit back for the rest of game and payed a high price.
United should go for the throat if they get an early goal.

padser

Of course they should, but given that the current result is pretty similar to a 0-0 draw (when you take away goals into it) and united were down to 10 men away from home for 60 minutes you would have to think that they have the slight advantage. Scholes is of course a massive loss and with him I think they could dominate the game at home, without him I think united have enough about them to keep Roma quiet and just need Ronaldo, Rooney, Giggs or Saha to come up with a moment of magic!

Does anyone know what the story is with Evra? He was having a great season and would really improve the back four if he were to come back in for Heinze.

PHB

They clearly are in pole position in their tie and be in a semi, but saying they have the best chance of winning the CL at this juncture is for me a bit fanciful.

It's because they are the team most likely to win it currently, because they are already through to the semis.
The winner of Chelsea/Valencia, Man Utd/Roma, or Bayern/Milan might be the favorites, but both of those ties are still in the balance. They are favorites because the bookies want Liverpool fans to put money on them now, and they are getting the publicity for it. But its a bad bet, as their odds will go up significantly once the other ties are solved.

leninbenjamin

Both Man Utd and Roma should get punished for their fans, but the actions by the fans themselves i don't think warrant any more than a fine at most. from what i can tell of it anyway the worst scenes from the violence were created by the police, which UEFA can do nothing about. If anyone deserves a punishment after the incidents it's them. if United had wits about them they'd go about helping their fans sue the police or something, as there is nothing that can be done about it from a football point of view.

Answer me this, do stewards from the away clubs travel with the fans? i think it would be much better if fans were kept in line by their own stewards, i.e. someone with a familiar face and that. It would have been a much better way to control the crowd to have Utd stewards trying to put some smacht on their fans rather than the Italians going kamikazee. I meant both the Utd and Roma fans were up to the same antics, yet it only took stewards to calm the Roma ones down by the sounds of things.

Nunu

B-K-DzR wrote:

Logic doesn't usually prevail in the human spirit when the **** hits the fan as i'm pretty sure you know. The police saw footie fans and went at it. You are always hearing about this kidna **** in italy so it's not totally surprising what happened.

I dunno about it being advantage Man u but i do think they are in a strong position.

What i do find weird is that Scholes will still only miss one game due to the sending off (same as he would have gotten with just a yellow) if manu progress.

It was 2 yellows so if Utd progress he will enter the semi final stage on one yellow(the 2nd is carried over).

padser

PHB wrote:

But its a bad bet, as their odds will go up significantly once the other ties are solved.

Exactly its a terrible bet. As an estimate, you would expect the their odds to almost double once the other results are decided because there will be only 3 other possible winners as apposed to 6 - and I fear that liverpool could go from favorites to outsiders!!!

stovelid

eirebhoy wrote:

Nothing to do with the disgraceful beating but why do most United travelling fans never wear colour? .

Porb as not to get identified and stabbed in Rome before and after the match.

padser

leninbenjamin wrote:

if United had wits about them they'd go about helping their fans sue the police or something, as there is nothing that can be done about it from a football point of view.

Complete waste of money. Look at the Mayday riots here a couple of years ago, no court would ever convict a police officer on the basis of that kind of footage.

stovelid

super_furry wrote:

Italian clubs should be banned from Europe, it's the only way they will ever acknoledge that there's a serious problem.

Agreed.

Why should the English be the only ones to face sanaction?

Also some sort of censure for the Mayor and other romans that stoked up such a commotion about MUFC's advice to fans. It was basically a ploy to gee up Roma and just served to turn up the heat, not that it was needed.

PHB

btw, three United fan were stabbed, before the game. It appears the Mayor was talking **** again. You know what the worst thing is, the fans, were not visited by the police, despite the hospital ringing them to tell them what happened.

p.s. The reason United fans tend not to wear jerseys, is because if you had your jersey changed every year, non-stop, you'd get pretty fed up with it.