Glory, Glory, Man United: Sir Alex's Men Deliver 2-0 Victory Over AS Roma In Champions League

It may have been April Fools Day in Rome but AS Roma's 2-0 Champions League Quarterfinal defeat to Manchester United was no laughing manner.

Without influential icon Francesco Totti, Montenegrin striker Mirko Vucinic was under enormous pressure to fill the void of the injured captain as United created the better of the chances for most of the night at the Stadio Olimpico.

Prior to the match, Roma boss Luciano Spalletti added fuel to the fire when he stated that even though Manchester United were the "best team in the world" but claimed that they could "never dominate a match [away from Old Trafford]".

After Tuesday night's performance, Sir Alex Ferguson certainly proved one point and disproved another. Roma was second best for most of the night and had it not been for the woodwork, Manchester United could have been three or four goals up heading into the second leg at Old Trafford.

Rising majestically in the air, Cristiano Ronaldo came from a long way out to head in a perfectly timed Paul Scholes cross into the back of the net at the 39th minute to put the vistors up with a crucial away goal. The goal was Ronaldo's tenth Champions League goal in eleven matches and gave him 36 goals in all club competitions this season for his club side.

Heading into half-time with a 1-0 deficit, Roma came back out for the second half with their best opportunity to pull themselves level with their English rivals when in-game captain Christian Panucci misfired on a gapping net after being left unmarked by the United defence. Ludovic Guily was also close to creating a golden chance but a superb reactionary stop by Edwin van der Sar saved Manchester United from any kind of grief.

The rest of the night belonged to United as Wayne Rooney sealed the deal on a defensive mixup between Roma goalkeeper Doni and the rest of his defensive back four. Chasing down a cross that looked to have been heading out of play, South Korean international Park Ji-Sung showed tremendous workrate to keep the ball alive and into dangerous territory.

Park, who has become part of Ferguson's squad rotation for much of the year, found himself starting place of club captain Ryan Giggs, a move that shocked many pundits and critics of United prior to the match. However, nobody could question his heart and desire as he proved to be one of United's better players on the night, covering great distances and putting a good foot in on the ball whenever the opportunity arose. 

The triumphant success was not marred without negativity though for Sir Alex's men. Nemanja Vidic was caught just after the half-an-hour mark following an awkward landing to the turf with his knee. While United do have strong players from all areas of the pitch, Vidic is one player that they will need in their bid for domestic and European glory. 

Perhaps what was more impressive than United's away victory over Roma was the amount of depth avaliable at the Manchester United boss' disposal. John O'Shea was brought on in Vidic's place and did a professional job in shutting down Roma's lethal attack. Owen Hagreaves and Carlos Tevez were brought on without the team losing any bit of quality in their defensive and offensive displays. 

For all the talk of Ferguson only being able to win one Champions League title back in 1999, this could very well be the year that United is on top of the footballing world--through both the English Premier League and the Champions League.