David Pizarro and Alberto Aquilani support Mirko Vucinic against Manchester United, while Ju-Sung Park is a surprise starter.
The big absentees for Roma were already known, as Francesco Totti is sidelined with a thigh injury he suffered against Cagliari on Saturday, making way for Vucinic in a centre-forward role.
Juan is also injured in defence, while World Cup winner Simone Perrotta sits out a ban for this Champions League quarter-final first leg meeting, but Christian Panucci has been picked in the centre rather than Matteo Ferrari.
Ludovic Giuly was expected to play in Perrotta’s usual position in the trident behind Vucinic, but instead Aquilani is moved further forward so Pizarro partners Daniele De Rossi in midfield.
United can field goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar after he shook off a groin injury and Michael Carrick has recovered from a hamstring strain.
Surprisingly, Sir Alex Ferguson has picked Korean international Park instead of Ryan Giggs.
Nani and Louis Saha are out of action and although there were reports in some sections of the media that Cristiano Ronaldo was spotted limping in the team hotel, that does not appear to be the case.
There is no sign of crowd trouble in the Italian capital, as the organised buses taking 4,000 Manchester United fans to the Stadio Olimpico appears to have worked.
Although there has been a ban on the sale of alcohol all day in the city, many visiting supporters were spotted carrying bottles of beer and wine.
The gates of the stadium were opened two hours before kick-off and a quarter was already full within 45 minutes. The match is sold out.
The referee is Belgian Frank De Bleeckere, who harshly sent off Marco Materazzi in the first leg of Inter’s clash with Liverpool.
Roma: Doni; Cassetti, Mexes, Panucci, Tonetto; De Rossi, Pizarro; Taddei, Aquilani, Mancini; Vucinic
Roma bench: Curci, Cicinho, Giuly, Antunes, Esposito, Ferrari, Brighi
Manchester United: Van der Sar; Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra; Carrick, Scholes, Anderson; Cristiano Ronaldo, Park; Rooney
Man Utd bench: Kuszczak, Hargreaves, Giggs, Pique’, O’Shea, Silvestre, Tevez
