Of three remaining English teams in the Champions League, Paul Doyle of the Guardian says Manchester United has received the toughest quarterfinal draw in AS Roma. Others could make a case for Chelsea-Valencia, but Roma, he says, could prove to be a tricky opponent for the Red Devils. Liverpool-PSV is the fourth quartefinal pairing.
For the most part, United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has sent out a 4-5-1 for away games in Europe, a formation that “straightjackets his best attackers,” Doyle says, pointing to the fact that neither Cristiano Ronaldo, the team’s leading scorer in the Premiership, nor Wayne Rooney have scored in the Champions League this year. Roma, incidentally, always plays that formation but “the difference is that it suits them, whereas it blunts United.”
On its day, Roma plays it perfectly; lone striker Francesco Totti has demonstrated repeatedly that the role comes naturally to him. Roma’s darting midfielders Alessandro Mancini, Rodrigo Taddei and Simone Perrotta have all benefited greatly from his service this season. They could pose a particularly big problem for United’s less-than-nimble central midfielders Michael Carrick and Paul Scholes. That said, Roma’s success almost completely hinges on the performance of captain Totti, who has a history of failing to show up for big games. Doyle says United would be remiss to play anything but a 4-4-2 in the first leg in Rome. The other quarterfinal pairings are Liverpool-PSV and AC Milan-Bayern Munich.