ManU v Roma 2nd Leg Liveblog

By: chris | April 9th, 2008

Time for the scudetto race. Grazie Roma, for giving us another quality run into the Champions League. This is still a relatively young team tactically, and they’re still building. You can do much worse than two quarter final runs stopped by a bigger, stronger team. Grazie, and here’s to next year.

FORZA ROMA!

On to Udinese…..

Game.

91′ Foul on Espo, 1 minute stoppage. Thank fuck.

90′ Doni deflects one over the net. I don’t know whether his fantastic game is good or bad, because it might just mean he’s used up another of his SuperDoni days, and the quota is dwindling. I don’t want to see him drop kick one behind him into his own net on Sunday. Sadly, I’m almost bracing for it.

88′ Fiddling around, waiting for the final whistle. Vucinic stopoped by one of 17 ManU defenders on the pitch.

86′ Mancini fires one off someone’s face, DDR fires one high…..typing that made me sick.

84′ Lotsa pitter patter here, ManU defending well deep.

What the hell is a scuderro?

“Roma are still alive in the scuderro race.”

82′ Espo on for Taddei. HEY, a fucking Totti mention. 82nd minute. Whaddya know.

80′ Has anyone noticed not one single mention of Totti by the ESPN announcers this game, but they can’t stop tugging on Neville’s Neville? Come on, ladies.

79′ Not much going on in either direction besides a lot of passing and standing around.

76′ Roma corner. Another corner. Nothin doin besides confusion in the box.

75′ I’ll just be glad when this game is over. Shit, I might even do the Udinese preview tonight.

O’Shea on for Carrick, Rooney on for the Welsh Yeti.

73′ Mexes has looked a bit shaky today. Here’s to not getting drawn with Manchester in the next decade. Yellow for Simone.

Is it me, or does Ludovic coming on feel like a ManU goal is inevitable?

Game. 1-0 Manchester on the break. Mexes couldn’t defend the center and the man. And so we look towards 2008-09.

69′ Piza off, here comes LUUUUUUUUUUUDOVICIOUS. Simone will drop back now.

68′ Tevez offside, if not he was clear on goal. Corner Roma…..oh, Juan missed it……clear chance in front of goal.

67′ So where’s Giuly, Spal? Corner, Roma. Taken easily by Pizarro.

66′ Foul by Panucci on Anderson, looked quite like a dive. Headed out by Philou, atta boy. Hey, this might be our miracle….Gary Neville is warming up.

65′ Headed up by Philou….Mancini and Vuci counter almost too quick for them.

64′ Park wins a free kick. Max defends very well, ManU corner.

63′ Juan cleans up in the back, Roma seems destined foir something here. Taddei shows too much ball….how about some Ludovicious.

I hate these dumbass biased announcers. Really do.

61′ Tonetto wins the ball off Park, well done, sir. Well done indeed.

59′ Corner Roma…our fair Giallorossi are winning some chances here. Piss poor corner by Piza, ManU counter….Taddei wins another poor ball. Vuci manhandled.

58′ Ronaldo’s warming up.

JUAN AGAIN. Fucking immense.

57′ TADDEI. Take your sweet time why don’t cha? Corner Roma, after Taddei gets a sitter blocked. Juan header saved on the line.

56′ Juan kung fu defends. I love him. Absolutely love him. Hargreaves fouls somebody. Here’s Max.

Nope, it’s gonna be Tonetto. At least there’s a left peg in the house now. Get ready for a ton of stoppage time later.

Here comes Cicinho. Dislocated shoulder for Cassetti? Ugh.

53′ Stunning noncall on Cassetti, oh he’s down. Shoulder again. Time to warm up Tonetto. Unfortunate, almost, because he’s been everywhere.

52′ OMR for the FK, shades of Madrid…….heaved out by ManPoo.

51′ Long ball wasted, picked up by Doni. JUAN. FUCKING JUAN. Saves the day. Albeit a bit long on the touch by Park, but Juan is amazing. Another corner. What’s this, infinity times 12?

49′ Simone clears it out, but ManU ends up wih possession again after the free kick. Cassetti whips it out of bounds. Doni just went full out for a ball into the side netting. Love him.

48′ DDR defends well….Cassetti misses an open fucking net….ah Christ.

47′ How many corners is this for ManPoo now? Infinity times seven? Eight? Good lord. Goal kick. Mancini shot in the box stuffed by ManU. Sneaky goal scoring chance there.

46′ Wow, hadn’t even checked the schedule. Udinese on Sunday, eh? Wonderful. Come on, David.ManU now with possession, De Rossi deflects it out of bounds for a corner.

No changes either side.

SECOND HALF

FORZA ROMA

And it’s time to pray, ladies and gents, for the most magical half of football you’ve ever seen in your life.

I think it’s about time for Giuly to come on for Taddei. There’s nothing to lose.

An extremely exciting game for neutral observers, surely, and it’s great to see Roma with so much life after being put on their back foot for the entire first quarter hour. I don’t see how this game can end 0-0, and let’s just hope it’s the good guys who get the goals.

HALFTIME

47′ Silvestre plays it OOB. Roma playing for one last chance….foul on Taddei.

46′ 2 minutes…..goal kick ManU.

45′ Foul on Simone. Beard’s lookin’ good, so that’s something. Perrotta has already covered 5500m….good christ.

44′ Cheeky cross with the outside of Cassetti’s found scooped by EVDS. Sweet ball from MC.

43′ Mirko back on, very sore it appears. Foul on park, poor call. Out of bounds. A goal here would be monumental.

Vucinic walking off. That’s a good start, pray for Mirko. Just be smart with 10, that’s all I ask.

41′ Corner cleared out. Vucinic hurt. Oh fuck. Lower back. Wes Brown’s knee right into his back.

40′ Rio looks hurt…..oh boy. Counter Roma….DDR….Vucistopped…..fuck.Cassetti smartly heads the cross out of bounds for a corner. Just noticed Marco shaved pregame. Atta boy.

38′ Foul on Simone, who has been running ragged. Juan is a stud. That’s all. I don’t care if Roma fails to win a trophy, he’s worth Chivu and so much more.

37′ Goal kick ManU.

36′ What a fucking tackle by Juan. Roma in control right now.

35′ Regardless of the scoringline, Roma is making everyone proud right now. They’re all fight.

34′ Daniele playing like a madman now. Perhaps he needed that PK miss.

DDR backheel stuffed! Fuck.

Absolutely devastating. Surprising, because he made one on a much bigger stage in Berlin.

31′ Daniele needs to calm down. Fantastic defensive work by Juan.

Oh Daniele. Baggio circa 1994.

Amantino wins the PK!!!!

29′ Vuci fires on on PENALTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Horrible pass from Taddei cleaned up easily by ManU. Giuly will be making an early entrance.

28′ Dangerous ManU counter ruled offside. Whew.

27′ OMR cross headed out by Carrick, corner Roma.

26′ Park sends one out of bounds. Not sure what he was going for there, perhaps Ronaldo in the stands.

25′ Doni fires one out of bound just to let us known he’s still heart attack Doni.

“Roma have not won in their last 2 away matches in UCL”…..Ummmm, I think they won the last one, you dumb fucks.

24′ Doni saves a laser from Anderson. MOTM thus far, easy. Goal kick Roma.

23′ Hargreaves gets owned by Juan and Cassetti in the box.

22′ Offside Park, Roma pushing forward. Weak header from Vuci caught by EVDS.

21′ Cassetti into the box, Pique clears it for a throw. Hargreaves falls with the ball out of bounds, fk ManU.

20′ Anderson wins it back with some hustle….Pizarro over the top to Vuci….

17′ ManU possessing….counter Vuci…..foul Anderson on OMR….Amantino foul.

16′ Roma gain possession, long ball handled easily……Doni is a fuckin hero right now. Should be 2-0 ManU.

“Right when I thought I was out he pulled me right back in.”

15′ Not much happening, ManU with possession…..goal kick for Roma.

13′ Nice swipe…..Pizarro sends a poor pass deep. Here comes Piza again, Taddei……EDVS saves one on Vuci…..Clusterfucking…EDVS saves a laser from Amantino. MUCH BETTER.

11′ The good news is that ManU is controlling like Roma to start the game last week, so perhaps Roma’s in line for a couple goals. Mexes with a great challenge on the ball to save another gscoring opportunity.

10′ Great save by Doni on Hargreaves. Jesus christ, slow it down.

9′ Headed out by OMR for a corner. ManU coming at Roma fast……corner headed just over the bar.

8′ Good buildup thwarted, foul by Mexes, fk, ManPoo. Poor throw by Cassetti.

7′ Tackle by Juan, a nice one, splits out to Park, fires to Tevez who heads it wide. Very unlucky.

6′ Park shoots wide, kept on by OMR. Coulda been dangerous.

5′ Amantino tackled by Park,ManU playing with the balls.

4′ Roma balls to the wall here….shot wide by Taddei. I love the way they’re playing. They came to win.

3′ Early sweet play by Amantino…cross cleared by Philou, corner ManU….odd header by Taddei. Tevez offside.

2′ Throw to Roma, cheeky work in the back from Mexes, run by Cassetti, cross scooped by EDVS>

1′ Early foul by Anderson, booted out for a ManU goal kick.

Kickoff

What was with that extra special hello from van der Sar to Simone? Didn’t EVDS show up at Juve after Perrotta?

Daniele De Rossi is bouncing around like a freakin’ animal. OMR with the band, but this could be DDR’s night.

FORZA ROMA

Too many commercials. I need some on the field stuffs.

I’d take a Ryan Babel-esque call tonight surely. Maybe a pk from Amantino? After the last few weeks, that’s the best we can hope for from him. Or maybe this will be the ultimate “gimme a contract already, dammit” game?

Pregame: Tommy Smyth just provided the translation for Marco Cassetti and managed not to say “bulge the old onion bag”. I suppose that’s step one in the right direction.
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Banners graciously made again by RomaShield27 of

I wanted to wax on regarding keeping hopes low and all that jazz, then I saw the starting XIs: no Ronaldo, no Rooney, no Evra. This thing ain’t over.

MANCHESTER UNITED (4-3-3):

Van der Sar;
Brown, Ferdinand, Pique, Silvestre;
Anderson, Carrick, Hargreaves;
Park, Tevez, Giggs.

ROMA (4-2-3-1):

Doni;
Cicinho, Mexes, Juan, Cassetti;
De Rossi, Pizarro;
Taddei, Perrotta, Mancini;
Vucinic.

No respect. No fuckin’ respect.

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Sounds like Alberto is unable to go, no words on the benches yet. It’s the lineup we thought we’d see, and that’s fine by me. I hope David Pizarro makes up for every bad thing I’ve said about him and pulls the strings on at least a half dozen dimes tonight. Hell, if he plays a part in two or more goals and Roma wins, I’ll buy a DP 7 Kappa kit and wear it mighty proudly.

I really cannot wrap my mind around benching Rooney. Ronaldo I can actually see, but Rooney is a 90 minute player, and those are integral in these types of games.

I would also pay good money for an early knock to Rio, and to see him forced off early, tying that arrogant fuck Fergie’s hands when it comes to substitutions. Actually, an Tomas Kusnzvsijcaka sighting would be nice also.

Fergie made me do this:

More than anything, I don’t hate Fergsuon for his arrogance, I hate him for giving me hope. Bastard.

I can’t help it, I’m excited now. It’s the Curse of La Magica. Ah.