United savage Roma
Carrick's double helped United through to the semis
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Tuesday, 10, Apr 2007 11:54
Manchester United advanced to the semi-finals of the Uefa Champions League with an astonishing 7-1 demolition of Roma at Old Trafford.
With the Italian side leading 2-1 from the first leg and riding high in second spot in Serie A, it had seemed that Sir Alex Ferguson was in for a tricky tactical battle if he was to secure a place in the last four.
As it was, his side had a horribly out-of-sorts Roma side beaten inside 20 minutes as they started at a frantic pace that they maintained for the rest of the evening.
Michael Carrick stepped forward from his anchorman role to curl home the opener after 12 minutes of the contest before Alan Smith, a surprise inclusion in the starting line-up, guided home the second five minutes later.
Wayne Rooney rounded off a flowing move after Ryan Giggs had zipped down the right flank and sent a low cross skimming across the face of Alexandre Doni's goal to make the scoreline 3-0 with less than a quarter of the match gone.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brace with two strikes either side of the half-time whistle to maintain his prolific record for the season and heap further humiliation on Roma's fragile defence.
Carrick matched his team-mate's feat with a searing shot into the top corner for six before the exhibition was briefly interrupted by a Daniele de Rossi effort for the visitors.
But Patrice Evra ensured that United had the last word with a neat finish after a snappy exchange of passes as their supporters' minds turned to a possible reunion with 1999's beaten finalists Bayern Munich.