Man Utd Lose Amid Violent Scenes

Man Utd’s worst fears were realised both on and off the pitch in Rome on Wednesday night as they lost the game at the Stadio Olympico 2 - 1 whilst off the pitch, Roma’s notorious Ultra fans attacked those of the English club and the local Police seemed to use excessive force.

These were not the only problems for Utd, as Paul Scholes, not known for his tackling skills, was sent off in the first half for two bookable offences. Scholes will now miss he second leg at Old Trafford next Tuesday. He has only just returned from a three match match following a red card against Liverpool at Anfield earlier in the season.

In the lead up to Wednesday night’s game, Manchester Utd and their supporters had been warned about the dangers posed by Roma’s extreme Ultra fans. Unfortunately, those warning proved correct and I’m afraid more will be talked about what happened off the pitch than on it. Italian football is definitely going through a bad patch at the moment, both on and off the pitch. What with match fixing scandals, crowd problems and the death of a policeman a few months ago. It annoys me that British fans are still stuck with this perception and aura of being thugs and hooligans. Ok, yes, I’m sure there are a few out there, but when are Uefa going to take a proper stand against other countries fans like these Italian fans and the Italian Police’s unnecessary use of force? This is not the first time. Dare I say if what had happened last night had been in Manchester, Uefa would already be cracking down on Utd, English and British clubs in general!

Utd’s supporters were victims of some very heavy handed treatment by the Roman Police. It has to be said that the local constabulary tend to act and ask questions later when it comes to English / British fans. Utd fans were also attacked by the hard core Ultras on a bridge over the River Tiber, not far from the stadium. However, the worst violence actually took place within the stadium with the local Police reacting to rivals fans throwing missiles at each other. However, it would appear that the Police concentrated their efforts solely on the English fans. They waded into the Utd fans with batons being used liberally. I wonder why they thought they needed just to attack the English fans and not the Roma ones too?

Probably unwisely, some fought back or threw more missiles towards the ranks of Police. However most of the Utd supports were forced to try to leap over seats in a bid for safety. It was not pretty, some managed to escape, whilst television pictures showed others less fortunate who were left helpless being beaten as they lay on the ground unprotected.

However, as I said earlier it wasn’t too good on the pitch for Utd either, but fortunately they were for just footballing reasons. As mentioned Paul Scholes managed to get himself sent off again for his lack of tackling skills (about the only skill he doesn’t possess in abundance). It is said that his tackling is a constant source of amusement to his team-mates and the staff at Old Trafford but I can’t imagine Sir Alex Ferguson laughing too much the other night. I would suspect the joke must be wearing a little thin by now. Especially as such an influential player will be missing yet again for the all important second leg at Old Trafford.

How crucial will Wayne Rooney’s first goal in Europe since he scored a hit-trick all the way back in September 2004 on his Utd debut against Fenerbahce prove to be? However, it was Roma who took the lead soon after Scholes’ dismissal with a deflected shot from Taddei. Rooney then scored his crucial goal but the celebrations were short lived as the Roma lead was restored by Vucinic after Utd’s goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar could only parry an initial strike by Mancini.

Roma are obviously an excellent side and with their talismanic Italian international, Totti, they will not be overawed by the prospect of the second leg at Old Trafford. Of Wednesday night’s display though, Sir Alex said, “Considering we played with ten men, possibly against 12, for an hour, it’s a very good result for us. The away goal is [potentially] decisive. I said beforehand if we score here we’ve got a massive chance and we’ve done that. It was hard work for us, I don’t think we had a decision all night, but that’s European football. I can’t complain at the sending off, but I’m pleased with the fact we’ve scored a goal.”

That away goal could indeed prove vital!

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Many thanks
Rik