Roma in England caused a record defeat

Champions League

The first day of the second quarter-finals of the Champions League was a day of absolute English triumph. Manchester United, having defeated Roma with a score of 7:1, won the biggest victory in the history of the league play-offs, and Chelsea scored a goal in the last minute of the match, which allowed them to win away against Valencia and follow the Manchester team to the semi-finals.

Participants, as a rule, talk about matches like the Manchester one, avoiding football terms. The words and expressions that Alex Ferguson and his players uttered in abundance on Tuesday are in vogue: “miracle”, “fantastic”, “perfect game”, “a match that is unlikely to ever be repeated”. The unfortunate Roma coach Luciano Spalletti, to whom this defeat will be remembered no less often than the fact that he had already achieved second place in the Italian championship or even reached the quarterfinals of the league, tried to explain something else. He said that, having conceded after the first home attack, Roma, as he put it, “lost its balance.” There is another cliché that describes such cases - “fall apart.” Both of these actually explain as little as the rhetoric of the victors.

Anomaly matches like the Manchester one, when in a meeting of two, in theory, equal, or almost equal, teams, one not only beats the opponent, but wins in a humiliating way, are recorded from time to time in football. There was already something in the Manchester spirit in the league playoffs - when Lyon beat Werder 7:2 two years ago in the 1/8 finals.

One can try to find excuses for any crushing defeat. The failure of Roma is no exception. In her case, we can remember, for example, that before the return match against Manchester United, the Romans’ personnel matters were not very good. Roma's losses, although few in number, were extremely painful given the team's playing pattern. Simone Perrotta could not play for Roma due to disqualification and Rodrigo Taddei due to injury. And almost everything in the midfield of the Roman club depends on these performers. Without the mobile Perrotta, who manages to work both in front and behind, and also without Rodrigue Taddei, who frees Francesco Totti from a significant part of the organizational responsibilities, the Roman midfield turned out to be not at all as good as usual.

You can also take into account that Manchester United were unusually motivated before the meeting with the Romans. Before this game, the Manchester team had a mini-series of two unsuccessful matches - against Roma in the Champions League and against Portsmouth in the English Championship (both ended in a loss with a score of 1:2). And if this series had continued on Tuesday, then Alex Ferguson’s team would have risked significantly spoiling the impression of an unusually successful season for it so far.

And finally, it can be reasonably argued that the Italian club was completely out of luck in the game against Manchester United. Amazingly, on Tuesday Roma hit the opponent’s goal with exactly the same number of shots as Manchester United - 22! But the guests' ball hit the net only after one of them (and almost the most difficult one - Daniele de Rossi had to hit it with his back to the goal), and the hosts' - after seven. The percentage of sales turned out to be almost basketball-like.

In general, there was a temptation to justify the defeat of Roma by a striking and largely random coincidence of factors that were unfortunate for it. In reality, even in “anomalous matches” things that are natural are often mistaken for accidents. Well, let's say, coaching intuition, thanks to which Manchester United on Tuesday formed an effective attacking triangle of Cristiano Ronaldo - Wayne Rooney - Alan Smith, in which it was not Rooney, as one might expect, who played the role of the tip. The tip was Alan Smith, who started for just the fourth time this season. And, as the first half showed, this decision by Alex Ferguson was brilliant, and Roma was completely unprepared for it.

However, the answer to the questions - why its defense, which probably already managed to figure out the design features of the Manchester attack in a terrible half-time and still remained in a protracted stupor for the rest of the match, why every player of the hosts, without a single exception, played the match, if not their lives, the day before yesterday, then at least a year, and where did the English come from, exceptional even by their standards, agility and synchronization of actions - these observations still do not tell. Well, Alex Ferguson honestly said that he did not expect such an extravaganza from his team. I expected victory, but not a miracle. And the miracle was already a bonus.

Chelsea's success comes from a different area. It didn't turn out fabulous, but that didn't make it any less valuable. If only because it was achieved without any practical help from the opponent, but was snatched from him with blood. After all, the game took place for a very long time in exactly the manner that looked fatal for Chelsea: the attacking line was shackled by the viscous Valencian defense, and the home team’s front line was biting painfully. The first bite was the shot of Fernando Morientes, who had recovered after all, into the post from a pass from David Villa, the second was his goal in the fall after a cross from the right by Joaquin. Valencia left the break with the obvious feeling that she had control over the situation in her hands.

Control of Chelsea had to be taken away, despite the fact that there were no preconditions that Valencia was going to give it away. And Jose Mourinho, of course, had something to praise himself and the players for after the match. The players - for the fact that, no matter how difficult it was, they continued to increase the pace and pressure, until it finally became clear that even for Valencia, with its phenomenal “springiness,” there is some kind of limit of resistance, after which it begins not only slightly sag, but crack. The very first crack resulted in a difficult goal, created by Didier Drogba and Andrei Shevchenko, to whom the Ivorian pushed the ball. Jose Mourinho praised himself for making this risky move, replacing defender Lassana Diarra with Joe Cole and moving Michael Essien in Diarra's place - with the task of constantly supporting the attack. The last time he supported her was when Jose Mourinho, by his own admission, was already preparing for overtime. And he would consider it happiness. But Santiago Canizares, firing into the near corner, saved Chelsea from overtime.

ALEXEY J-DOSPEKHOV

Manchester United visit Roman ruins