Think of Manchester United v Roma at Old Trafford and one match immediately springs to mind.
United’s 7-1 win in 2007 was inspired by Michael Carrick and Alan Smith, with Cristiano Ronaldo torturing the Roma defence.
So Roma were understandably not very happy at all to get drawn against United in the Champions League quarter-finals in 2008.
This tie is best remembered for Cristiano Ronaldo’s leaping header in the Stadio Olimpico from a Paul Scholes pass.
With Roma’s wounds from the 7-1 still raw, United’s 2-0 away win in the first leg in 2008 effectively sealed the tie before the second leg at Old Trafford.
What happened at Old Trafford in 2008?
United won the game 1-0 to seal a 3-0 aggregate victory, in a match which was nowhere near as memorable as the previous home encounter.
Carlos Tevez scored the goal, a diving header from an Owen Hargreaves cross.
Roma had a chance to make the tie interesting with the game scoreless when they were awarded a penalty, only for Daniele de Rossi to sky the spot-kick over the bar.
Sir Alex Ferguson had made a few controversial calls for the fixture. He left Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, and Paul Scholes on the bench.
United’s starting line-up was: Van der Sar; Brown, Ferdinand, Pique, Silvestre; Hargreaves, Park, Carrick, Anderson; Tevez, Giggs.
Tonight Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hopefully won’t follow that route of resting key players. This is a game United have to go all-out to win, and set up a healthy advantage for the second leg.
Both the 2007 and 2008 ties against Roma saw United play the away leg first.
The rest is history…
United’s 2008 win over Roma set up a semi-final tie against Barcelona.
After drawing at the Nou Camp despite a Ronaldo penalty miss, Paul Scholes scored the goal at Old Trafford to send United into the final.
United then took on Chelsea in the final, where Ronaldo scored the goal which set up a penalty shootout.
A miss from John Terry and an Edwin van der Sar save from Nicolas Anelka saw United with the Champions League for a third time.
Hopefully facing Roma is another good omen for United as this 2021 version of the Red Devils look to win another European trophy.
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