Ronaldo Fires United to Brink of Semi-final

Utter domination can be a humdrum affair. Manchester United were not spectacular and had to scuffle on occasion, yet they still brought down the curtain on this Champions league quarter-final in the first leg. Minds can already turn to the meeting in the last four with, most likely, Barcelona, who beat Schalke 1-0 in Gelsenkirchen last night.

United could have added more goals from the men who had already struck last night, with Cristiano Ronaldo hitting a post and Wayne Rooney missing a simple chance. By then, interest was flagging. While Roma can claim that they were a genuine force, it is still true that the Premier League club had their riposte to a criticism that has been made of them.

Roma's coach Luciano Spalletti had pointed out beforehand that their away record in the Champions League is moderate for a club so devastating on other fronts. That, all the same, is how it ought to be in a tournament that pits the best a continent has to offer against one another. Mind you, the United manager might have had moments before Ronaldo's opener when he failed to show a connoisseur's appreciation of the difficulties.

Roma were enterprising and that looked ominous for United, particularly since the center-half Nemanja Vidic had to go off, in the 34th minute, after injuring a knee as he fell awkwardly. There had never been much likelihood of carefree football from them, but the tone of a contest makes little difference to Ronaldo. He just keeps on scoring.

Ferguson might have attempted to claim a strategic masterstroke in his use of Ronaldo at center-forward, if there had not been 35 previous goals from the Portuguese this season, when he has nominally occupied different posts. Ronaldo climbed above the full-back Marco Cassetti to convert Paul Scholes' clipped cross from the right with a downward header.

Until that moment, Roma could have been quite pleased with themselves. They took an interest in working moves through the inside-left channel and it did look as if that could be a profitable avenue. Mirko Vucinic was also using muscle and initiative as a lone attacker, wheeling away from Rio Ferdinand to put one shot a shade high when the game was goalless.

The air of tension then ought not to have seemed peculiar. That 7-1 drubbing at Old Trafford in last season's quarter-final second-leg was unforgettable, but there ought also to be a sliver of space in the memory banks for the other meetings between the clubs. This was the fifth in 12 months and that rout was an anomaly in a sequence of close contests. United had even lost one of them on this ground.

It is hard to get used to the idea that a tie with opponents in hot pursuit of the Serie A leaders Internazionale should be viewed as a rather favorable draw for United. Italian football is suffering an identity crisis, disturbed that it is being stripped of a status that once looked permanent. The holders Milan went out meekly to Arsenal and Inter could not make any impression on battle-hardened Liverpool.

Roma, however, have been dynamic in the bid to prove themselves the exception and did so by eliminating Real Madrid, with Vucinic a thrilling and devastating substitute at the Bernabéu. The Montenegrin offered a significant consolation to others in a line-up bereft of the injured captain Francesco Totti.

Ferguson anticipated hard labor, judging by his decision to pick the workmanlike Park Ji-sung in preference to the veteran Ryan Giggs, whose minor hamstring injury made it prudent to have him on the bench. It was a grind for United, who might have surprised themselves by breaking the deadlock. That

contribution from Ronaldo was soothing as much as satisfying, taking their mind off the fact that John O'Shea would need to strive for the standards of reliability set by Vidic.

United were not always steadfast, particularly as Roma strove to raise the tempo. The Serie A side had an edge to them then and their captain Christian Panucci ought to have equalized after a long throw-in dropped to him, instead of hacking the ball over. There was, fleetingly, more urgency and danger to the fixture.

It seemed prudent, in that context, for Ferguson to withdraw Anderson, who had already been cautioned, and use Owen Hargreaves in his place. That, of course, once more underlined the extent of the resources at United's disposal.

That did not subdue Roma, who set a hectic tone that caused mayhem in the area. United, all the same, were to apply a tranquillizer. Wes Brown crossed deep and when Park headed back into the middle Doni fumbled the ball so that Rooney was able to bundle it into the net to put this quarter-final far beyond Roma's reach.