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UEFA Champions League: AS Roma v Manchester United |
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Written by Diego Valderama
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Saturday, 22 March 2008 |
Italian A.S. Roma will receive English top flight Manchester United at Stadio Olimpico in Rome on April 1st 2008 in celebration of the first leg of the UEFA Champions League knock out stage. Roma is the last Italian League team in the Champions and they have a fresh defeat they would like to avenge against Manchester from their last time encounter in quarter finals.
SBGglobal.com has both A.S. Roma and Manchester United as a +165 return . The draw is placed +210. Roma to pass to the quarterfinal stage is listed +175 while Manchester United is laying money with -225 to get past the stage.
 The two teams have already met during this year’s version of the Champions League. In the group stage Manchester earned a one score win at Old Trafford while going on the road to Stadio Olimpico to etch a 1-1 tie from Roma.
A.S. Roma gained another entry to the quarterfinals by beating Spanish Real Madrid and ride the hope of getting even with Manchester United for a quarterfinal that ended with a 7 to 1 loss and a lowly 8-3 aggregate during last years participation. Manchester United’s strikers, Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo and England’s very own Wayne Rooney have placed 5 goals between them in the last 4 matches against Roma and will be looking to inflate their stats by adding more to GoalKeeper Doni’s post.
When interviewed Manchester United’s manager, Sir Alex Ferguson had to admit curiosity towards the chances of being paired up with Roma once again instead of encountering one of England’s 3 other Premiere teams involved in the quarterfinals. This will make it 6 games between the two clubs in the last year, a fact that Ferguson acknowledges with mischief. He also admits to knowing Roma as much as they know United with the advantage of Roma’s having to safe face.
Alex Ferguson’s knowledge of Roma and Stadio Olimpico offers some security to picking Manchester United at +165 at SBGglobal.com. Man U is a solid team with a strong frontline attack that is aware of how to hurt Francesco Totti’s squad, yet recent games have demonstrated Italian Roma to be a fitting adversary that is highly motivated as well.
Manchester United at +165 and a +210 draw seem attractive picks unless of course you believe in some good old revenge and go with Roma. I like the draw, these teams are bound to play safe but I also believe Manchester is of more luck in these cases.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 22 March 2008 )
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