Graphic: How cautious Roma avoided another rout

Revenge – or, more precisely, vendetta - has been the dirty word doing the rounds in Italy this week, but, for one of AS Roma’s crestfallen players, it was to take the most cowardly form. A stray elbow from Mirko Vucinic in the final moments of the game last night left Cristiano Ronaldo with a bloodied face and a quivering lip. Fortunately for Manchester United, it was the only time all evening that a Roma player managed to hit his target.

The act of thuggery, which left Ronaldo in need of four stitches while United played out the final seven minutes a man short, showed that cynicism is not dead in Italian football, but, while violence on a football pitch cannot be condoned, Roma’s frustration was not hard to understand. Having created – and missed – the opportunities to banish the memories of their 7-1 defeat in the Champions League quarter-final, second leg last April, Roma had fallen behind to Wayne Rooney’s first goal of the season. What they did not need thereafter, as they continued to snatch at chances, was Ronaldo rubbing their noses in it.

Fiercely protective of his most captivating talents, Sir Alex Ferguson described the incident as “a shame” and, had he seen it properly, he might have called it an outrage. As it is, with Ronaldo having escaped serious injury, it will barely merit a footnote in United’s season, a campaign that, unusually, is becoming defined by 1-0 victories as Ferguson’s players continue to grind out results in the absence of the verve that accompanied them en route to the Premier League title and the Champions League semi-finals last spring.

This was the sixth time in the past eight matches that United have won by a solitary goal and, if that record implies that they are getting by thanks to their defence, it was not always the case last night. Despite the best efforts of Rio Ferdinand, who excelled in the home rearguard, Roma had numerous goalscoring chances, but they rarely tested Tomasz Kuszczak, United’s stand-in goalkeeper, with Mauro Esposito, another substitute, particularly profligate when he snatched at two chances late in the game. Contrast this with Rooney, who had only one sight of goal and took it, turning sharply to sweep the ball beyond the reach of Gianluca Curci with 19 minutes remaining.

It was a moment of rare quality from United, the culmination of a crisp one-touch move between Ronaldo, Michael Carrick and Nani. It was just the kind of move that blew Roma away on their previous visit to Old Trafford, but the kind of quality that did for the Italian team on that occasion – “colourful attacking football full of penetration, flair and fierce finishing”, as Ferguson put it in his programme notes – has been largely elusive since the dawn of the new campaign.

In search of their lost fluency, Louis Saha was ushered back into the starting lineup for the first time since an FA Cup fifth-round replay away to Reading in February, recalled in place of Carlos Tévez. Saha, the closest thing Ferguson has to an out-and-out striker, certainly brought a focal point to United’s attacking play, but, having inevitably shown signs of rustiness, he would soon make way for Tévez, who at least injected a sense of urgency that had been lacking.

It was a curious game. Ferguson called the first half “a little bit tactical”, as Roma built their moves around Francesco Totti, their captain and creative fulcrum. Ferguson said afterwards that Totti “didn’t cause us any problems”, but he was a growing influence in the second half, teeing up chances for wasteful teammates both before and after missing a clear chance of his own, when he lifted the ball over the crossbar after a sublime touch from Ludovic Giuly’s cross took him away from Nemanja Vidic.

United, with Ronaldo unusually subdued and Rooney still feeling his way back to form after injury, were lacking any such source of inspiration. Their best hope seemed to lie with Nani, who enjoyed perhaps the most impressive night’s work of his Old Trafford career to date. He came closest to easing United’s nerves early in the second half, when he chipped the ball on to the top of the crossbar from a tight angle with what looked like an overhit cross but may have been an audacious shot.

By contrast, many of his teammates were starting to look anxious, not least when Rooney clattered Max Tonetto, and Carrick was fortunate not to concede a penalty after an ill-advised lunge on Mancini, but salvation was minutes away. For almost the first time all evening, United produced an incisive attacking move, with the ball switched at pace between Ronaldo, Carrick, Nani and Rooney, who summoned just enough power to send a right-foot shot beyond the reach of Curci. “A marvellous goal,” Ferguson called it, likening it to the forward’s dramatic late strike against AC Milan in the semi-final, first leg at Old Trafford last season.

That, of course, was at a time when watching United felt like a white-knuckle ride, a thrilling adventure that peaked when Roma were the unfortunate visitors to Manchester in April. It was an evening that remains a source of nightmares in Rome. This, by contrast, was one of regrets, missed opportunities and, ultimately, frustration. Bitter, bitter frustration.

Manchester United (4-4-2): T Kuszczak – J O’Shea, R Ferdinand, N Vidic, P Evra – C Ronaldo, M Carrick, P Scholes, Nani (sub: R Giggs, 79min) – W Rooney (sub: Anderson, 84), L Saha (sub: C Tévez, 66). Substitutes not used: T Heaton, G Piqué, D Simpson, C Eagles.

AS Roma (4-2-3-1): G Curci – Cicinho, P Mexès, Juan, M Tonetto – D De Rossi, A Aquilani (sub: D Pizarro, 61) – L Giuly (sub: M Esposito, 79), S Perrotta, Mancini (sub: M Vucinic, 74) – F Totti. Substitutes not used: Antunes, A A Barusso, M Brighi, Julio Sergio. Booked: Mexès.

Referee: M E Mejuto González (Spain).