After beating Roma in the Olympic Stadium last week and
facing Luciano Spalletti's team five times in the last year,
Ferguson knows that the greatest danger at Old Trafford is likely
to come from within. Despite Rio Ferdinand undergoing a fitness
test on his injured foot this morning, United are expected to be
without both him and his regular central defensive partner Nemanja
Vidic.
The scale of that problem cannot be overstated. Statistics show
that United's win ratio drops by 50 per cent when the two men do
not play. Presuming Ferdinand misses out, United will have to rely
on the talented but unpredictable Spaniard Gerard Pique to fill one
of the holes, with Wes Brown and John O'Shea — both poor in the
draw at Middlesbrough on Sunday — competing to play alongside
him.
Gary Neville and Mikael Silvestre are both in Ferguson's squad,
and while the England veteran has little more than an outside
chance of starting Silvestre is expected to play at left back in
place of fellow Frenchman Patrice Evra.
'We made two mistakes on Sunday at Middlesbrough,' said
Ferguson, acknowledging his defensive concerns. 'It was a surprise
to lose goals like that. But it shows what can happen. When I see
opponents playing I'm always looking for chinks in their armour and
Spalletti will have been looking at that game for chinks in
ours.
'Football can change in an instant. We started well at
Middlesbrough, scored a goal and should have been a couple up. 'But
a couple of decisions didn't go our way and all of a sudden we were
scrambling around and losing 2-1. Things can happen but we have to
make sure it doesn't happen on this occasion. 'We have one foot in
the semi-final and in order to get there we have to go out against
Roma and approach the game in the proper fashion.'
Roma arrived in Manchester suitably realistic about their
chances. With captain Francesco Totti back in Italy and midfielder
Alberto Aquilani also struggling with injury, Spalletti was at
pains to apologise for comments made about Cristiano Ronaldo after
the first game.
Ronaldo was accused of showboating at the Olympic Stadium last
Tuesday but Spalletti said: 'The things said by our club were in
the heat of the moment. 'Our comments had the bitterness of defeat
in them, and we said things we normally would not.
'Ronaldo is an excellent player. He is an exuberant player and a
fair player. 'He is a very correct player.'
PROBABLE LINE-UP
MANCHESTER UNITED (4-4-1-1): Van der Sar; Brown, O'Shea,
Pique, Silvestre; Ronaldo, Scholes, Carrick, Anderson; Giggs;
Rooney.
ROMA (4-2-3-1): Doni; Cicinho, Mexes, Juan,
Cassetti; Pizarro, De Rossi; Taddei, Perrotta, Mancini;
Vucinic.
Referee: Thomas Henning (Norway).
