Tevez brings on battle of Barca

The match was an exercise in adaptation for a diluted Manchester United selection, which had to wait until the 70th minute for the single goal, from Carlos Tevez, writes Kevin McCarra.

Manchester United had in effect clinched a Champions League semifinal against Barcelona with their 2-0 victory in Rome in the first leg. At Old Trafford, in the second leg, emotions did not surge until the introduction of the club captain Gary Neville for the last nine minutes as he re-emerged from an ankle injury sustained in March 2007. Otherwise this was an exercise in adaptation for a diluted United selection who had to wait until the 70th minute for the single goal, from Carlos Tevez.

In view of defensive worries, with Nemanja Vidic absent and Rio Ferdinand testing his injured foot in this match, the clean sheet may have been the most significant aspect. Roma could have marred that from the penalty spot in the 29th minute after the Norwegian referee, Tom Henning Ovrebo, mistakenly ruled that Wes Brown had fouled Mancini when in fact the right-back had connected with the ball. Daniele De Rossi was overwhelmed by the opportunity and sent the penalty well over the bar.

Scenes of agitation were otherwise absent. The fixture had a look of a carefully designed exercise, with Sir Alex Ferguson declining to enhance the line-up with substitutes such as Wayne Rooney until United were ahead. His chief objective was to keep players fresh for the Premier League fixture at home to Arsenal.

Paul Scholes, like Cristiano Ronaldo, was not released from the bench and so the 33-year-old has to wait for his 100th appearance in this tournament. It is surely more appropriate that the occasion can be pencilled in for a majestic encounter at Camp Nou on April 23. As it was, there was a show of strength by Ferguson in sending out a weakened line-up here.

The manager might have been scolded for complacency but such a charge could only be made half-heartedly when the recent record against Roma was taken into account. Among other results, United had walloped Luciano Spalletti’s men 7-1 at Old Trafford a year ago. The assertion by the visiting defender Marco Cassetti that Ferguson’s side held merely a “slight advantage” in the tie sounded like an especially shrill sort of whistling in the wind.

There was a brisk opening from United. Ryan Giggs set up Anderson and then the impressive Owen Hargreaves in the first 10 minutes. The Brazilian put his effort wide and the Englishman’s attempt clipped the goalkeeper Doni to deflect for a corner.

It was bemusing to witness a Champions League quarterfinal tie at Old Trafford that had no aura of importance. This phase of domination by English clubs is too new to be assimilated entirely yet and it is disconcerting for almost 75,000 spectators to realise that their emotions would barely be stirred at all by a game in the knockout stage of a prestigious competition.

Roma had a hankering to test United’s defence. It was, sporadically, a tricky environment in which the United left-back Mikael Silvestre had to make his return after sustaining ligament damage in September. The inexperienced Gerard Pique, deputising for Vidic, had a greater involvement in the action than he would have anticipated.

The game became an irritant to United, especially since they were no longer posing so regular a threat. There were moments when the situation could have caused danger, notably when Edwin van der Sar, after 49 minutes, let a Vucinic attempt break out of his grasp.

The Italian supporters were becoming animated and Ferguson may have been pondering an earlier introduction of more senior players than he had planned. There was no reason for Spalletti to make adjustments voluntarily and the replacement of Cassetti with Max Tonetto was forced on him by injury. The identity of this fixture was ambivalent, with United players seemingly unclear whether it was a glorified practice session or a proper challenge.

Hargreaves, like Giggs, had been fully engaged and doused Roma’s hopes with a cross from the right that was headed home by Tevez with 20 minutes remaining. United had eliminated the Serie A club while taking almost nothing out of themselves.

The Results

April 9: Barcelona 1 (Toure Yaya 43) bt Schalke-04 0. Half-time: 1-0. Aggregate: 2-0.

Manchester United 1 (Tevez 70) bt Roma 0. Half-time: 0-0. Aggregate: 3-0.

April 8: Chelsea 2 (Ballack 4, Lampard 87) bt Fenerbahce 0. Half-time: 1-0. Aggregate: 3-2.

Liverpool 4 (Hyypia 30, Torres 69, Gerrard pen-86, Babel 90) bt Arsenal 2 (Diaby 13, Adebayor 84). Half-time: 1-1. Aggregate: 5-3.

Semifinal line-up: Barcelona vs. Manchester United; Chelsea vs. Liverpool — First leg: April 23; Second leg: April 30.

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2008