CL Preview: Roma v Man Utd

Manchester United will visit Stadio Olimpico tonight to challenge the Romans in their home stadium. AS Roma is out of their captain and striker Francesco Totti.

Venue: Stadio Olimpico

Referee:Frank De Bleeckere (BEL)

AS Roma defeated Real Madrid 4-2 on aggregate to secure the quarter-final spot while Manchester United won comfortably against Lyon. They have played against each other four times in the last twelve months, with United winning twice and Roma winning once.

Recent Form

AS Roma have enjoyed a great run in the Serie A moving close to the league leader Inter Milan. They are just four point below the league leaders and are catching up very fast.

They played an excellent game against the Spanish giants Real Madrid and knocked them out of the champions league. They won both the legs, their performance in the Santiago Bernabeu was one of the best.

In the last five matches, they have won two home matches and an away game. They lost one home match and drew in an away match.

Although Roma managed to defeat Real Madrid, Milan and Empoli recently, they have a habit of conceding goals

Manchester United are in their top form and they are one of the hot favourites to win the Champions League this season.

The recent domestic performances show that United can score goals, dominate the game, control the play and keep the clean-sheet.

They have had good results in the Champions League too and have already beaten Roma in Old Trafford and managed to get a goal and draw the match in Rome. They defeated Lyon at the Old Trafford and drew the away the match.

The last five matches see them winning four matches convincingly and losing one match against Portsmouth in the FA Cup.

They have kept a clean-sheet in the last four matches and the goal scoring ability has increase by one in every match.They managed to net three goals past Liverpool, one of the best defensive sides in Europe.

Past Meetings

They met each other in the group stages and Manchester United won at home, 1-0 and managed to get a draw at Rome,the scoreline being 1-1.

Last season's Champions League will be one to forget for Roma as they had been thrashed by the Red Devil 8-3 on aggregate.

Team News

AS Roma

The Romans suffer a huge setback in the form of their injured captain, Francesco Totti. He had been in good form this season scoring 14 goals in the Serie A and he will certainly be missed. Christian Panucci is out of form and had been in bench for a while.

Mirko Vucinic is likely to take Totti's place in the first-team.Daniel De Rossi will be leading the team tonight.

Manchester United

Fergie does not have major concerns as all his players are in top form. Edwin van der Sar, Ryan Giggs and Patrice Evra had been declared fit to play and has succesfully trained an hour in the Stadio Olimpico on Monday night.

Micheal Carrick who is with the squad did not train and it seems that he won't be able to play. Ferdinand is nursing a black eye, but looked fine in the training session.

Nani is the only left-out player because of a thigh strain.

In-form players

Mirko Vucinic has scored four goals in the champions league this season including the late winner against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu. Daniel De Rossi has been been the strong force in the Roma attack, he will be filling in Totti's shoes as the captain of the team.

Cristiano Ronaldo has continued his great run of form and has scored six goals in the Champions League this season. Wayne Rooney is a real goal getter and he can play various role depending on the team's needs. He will be the real threat to Roma tonight.

Probable Line-ups

Manchester United:: van der Sar, Brown, Ferdinand, Evra, Vidic, Cristiano, Scholes, Hargreaves, Giggs, Rooney, Tevez.

AS Roma::Doni,Cicinho, Mexes,Ferrari,Tonetto, Aquilani,De Rossi, Taddei, Guily, Mancini, Vucinic ,

Final Score Prediction

AS Roma 2-1 Manchester United

Scorers: Vucinic, Guily (AS Roma), Rooney(Man Utd)