Magnificent Manchester United produced one of their best ever performances as they destroyed AS Roma 7-1 at Old Trafford to advance to the UEFA Champions League semi-final 8-3 on aggregate. It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime nights when everything goes right, as the Red Devils were 3-0 in front after only 19 minutes and by the end of the 90 minutes they got seven against the italian masters of defense with goals from Michael Carrick (11, 60), Cristiano Ronaldo (44, 49), Alan Smith (17), Wayne Rooney (19) and Patrice Evra (81). Carrick opened the scoring on 11 minutes when he picked up the ball from Ronaldo and shot the ball past keeper Doni who thought he covered all his angles. six minutes later, Smith fired the ball to the top corner to make it 2-0 after receiving an excellent pass from Ryan Giggs who combined with Gabriel Heinze. The Welshman assisted the third goal when he played a low cross to Rooney who got on the score sheet at the 19th minute. What a warm welcome from the hosts that left the Romans knocked out. Ronaldo killed any hopes firing up the fourth, a minute before the break, as the defenders made the error of giving him the space to shoot.
Ronaldo also notched twice Things didn't change after the break as in-form Ronaldo made it 5-0 when he converted Giggs low cross in the back of the net (49). Carrick doubled his tally by a powerful well placed shot in Dani's top corner to make it 6-0 and there is still 30 minutes to go. But Sir Alex Ferguson thought it was enough and started to rest some of his key players as Kieran Richardson, Patrice Evra and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer were brought in to replace Michael Carrick, John O'Shea and Ryan Giggs. Daniele De Rossi pulled one back at the 69th minute from a great volley but it was cancelled by Evra's shot to end the game on a 7-1 victory. Manchester United will face Bayern Munich or AC Milan in the semis.
