Fan violence mars United-Roma clash
Scholes' sending off sparked the off-field violence
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Wednesday, 04, Apr 2007 10:15
Violence between Manchester United fans and Italian police became the centre of attention during the Red Devils' 2-1 defeat to Roma in the Champions League quarter-final.
The problems began after the sending-off of Paul Scholes for two bookable offences during a first-half that was dominated by the Italians.
Following Scholes' dismissal Roma took the lead through Rodrigo Taddei after the Brazilian's shot deflected off Wes Brown and caught Edwin van der Saar wrong-footed two minutes before half time.
During the interval there were heated exchanges between the travelling support and Italian police as both sides charged towards each other.
Thankfully, the action in the second half was centred on the pitch as the ten men of United showed more of a cutting edged than they had during the first 45 minutes.
Their improvement was rewarded when Wayne Rooney notched an equaliser. A superb passing move by United was topped by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's cross which Wayne Rooney controlled before slotting into the corner of the goal.
Cristiano Ronaldo then created a chance for himself out of nothing during the Red Devils' best period of the game but his shot was well saved.
Roma regained the lead five minutes later through substitute Mirko Vucinic. Van der Saar failed to hold on to Alessandro Mancini's stinging long-range effort, Vucinic was the first to react and he poked the ball home.
The Italians continued to pressure the United goal as they looked to add to their lead with Francesco Totti pulling the strings.
He flashed a number of shots close to the United goal and Simone Perrotta volleyed inches over at the far post just before full time.