| Wayne Rooney gave Manchester United a 1-0 victory at Old Trafford, but Roma's Amantino Mancini felt they deserved a penalty. This was a very emotional game for the Giallorossi, who were humiliated here 7-1 in last season's quarter-finals. Already psychologically fragile just days after their 4-1 loss to Inter, they also had to do without Christian Panucci, Rodrigo Taddei, Marco Cassetti and Alexander Doni, the goalkeeper coming down with a stomach bug overnight. So the inexperienced Gianluca Curci took the gloves, while United were also missing Edwin van der Sar. Roma had the first shot on target, Francesco Totti had a couple of long-range efforts smothered, then Il Capitano's wonderful through ball found Amantino Mancini, but the shot was parried by Tomasz Kuszczak. Incredibly the linesman flagged it offside, but the Brazilian was at least a couple of yards in play. A good move saw Mancini cut back for Simone Perrotta to drill wide of the near post. At the other end, Nani kicked his cross on to Juan's elbow from point-blank range and as the move continued Cristiano Ronaldo nodded over. United increased the pressure, aided by some poor Roma clearances, and on 26 minutes Curci fingertipped a looping cross away from the danger zone. Another disappointing clearance allowed Louis Saha to shoot, but Curci was prepared. Kuszczak spilled a Totti daisy-cutter free kick, but none of the Roma players could pounce on the loose ball before he recaptured it. Curci was more secure on Max Tonetto's backpass under pressure from Wayne Rooney and a Cristiano Ronaldo set-piece. Moments later Roma foolishly lost the ball in midfield again and Nani crossed for Rooney, who volleyed over from a promising position. There were worrying scenes as Curci collapsed to the ground clutching his right knee following a collision with Saha, but the second choice was able to continue after treatment. A Totti free kick took a couple of deflections off the wall to whistle just past the near post and Michael Carrick's hopeful shot was well over. Roma had another good move with Mancini and Cicinho combining, but the glancing Ludovic Giuly header didn't have enough power on it. Roma had a fantastic chance to open the scoring straight after the restart. Giuly cut back for Totti to go past two defenders around the penalty spot, but his lob was over the bar. Moments later the Giallorossi had another splendid move. Totti's first effort was charged down, so he rolled back for Alberto Aquilani to drill inches over from the edge of the box. Nani was given far too much space down the left flank and his cross-shot clipped the crossbar on 56 minutes. Roma won back the ball in midfield and passed it around quickly, Giuly for Aquilani's effort deflected wide from the edge of the D. Unfortunately, as he swung the shot, he pulled up with an upper right thigh problem and had to make way for David Pizarro. Aquilani had been in doubt for this match and seems to have sustained yet another injury. From the resulting corner Giuly and Philippe Mexes had attempts charged down. Totti flicked the ball up for Pizarro, but the substitute hesitated and allowed the Manchester United defence to close him down. Moments later Saha nutmegged Mexes, but Daniele De Rossi was there to clean up. The game sprung to life and Rooney's low drive was fingertipped round the base of the upright, but from the corner there was a controversial incident. Cristiano Ronaldo appeared to punch Perrotta on the side of the head before the cross came in. Carlos Tevez replaced Saha, but there was further controversy as Mancini was shoved over in the area by Carrick, but the referee waved away penalty appeals. Manchester United hit the back of the net with a cheeky Ronaldo backheel, but it was disallowed for an offside position. United eventually broke the deadlock with Rooney, whose low angled drive from Nani's assist went in off the far post where Curci simply could not reach. Striker Mirko Vucinic replaced Mancini, moving Totti to a deeper role. Tevez blasted a powerful finish over from distance, but Roma were unlucky not to score as a tangle of legs and Rio Ferdinand on the ground blocked both Perrotta and Giuly from tapping in after some fine build-up play from Totti. Cicinho did well to intercept Nani's run in the box, but Paul Scholes drilled wide. Ryan Giggs and Mauro Esposito replaced Nani and Giuly. Within seconds Esposito had skimmed the post, but was flagged offside. Roma really should have equalised on 82 minutes with a long move, but after a series of passes and ricochets Perrotta somehow failed to hit the target from six yards and was visibly distraught. He had also missed an open goal in the 2-2 draw with Juventus a fortnight ago. Juan closed down Tevez, but Vucinic accidentally elbowed Ronaldo in the eyebrow and left him with a deep gash. Esposito missed another absolute sitter for the Giallorossi, as Perrotta let it go for the former Cagliari man's shot to swing across the face of goal. De Rossi saw Kuszczak off his line and fired over from 30 yards, but those wasted chances ended up costing Roma.
| 
