It may be comparable to apologising to a tiger shortly after tweaking its tail, but with his team in need of a miracle against Manchester United this evening, Luciano Spalletti, the AS Roma coach, has moved to placate Cristiano Ronaldo by admitting that accusations of “showboating” and arrogance from his players last week were ill-judged.

Ronaldo, who had worked himself under the skin of the Roma players by scoring a first-half opener for United in the Olympic Stadium, gave the Italian team a display of his considerable ball skills once Sir Alex Ferguson's side had built up a 2-0 second-half lead in the first leg of the quarter-final last week.

David Pizarro, the Roma midfield player, and Bruno Conti, the legendary former Roma winger, suggested that Ronaldo had taken the exhibitionism too far by ridiculing and humiliating his opponents. Yet Spalletti has attempted to play down Roma's apparent annoyance by saying that the post-match comments about the United forward were fuelled merely by the Roma players' inability to avoid defeat.

Spalletti said: “Some of the things said by our club after the game were perhaps said in the heat of the moment because we had the bitter taste of defeat in our mouths. Our comments had the bitterness of defeat in them because we were disappointed after that game. Sometimes we may say things that we normally would not and that is what happened.

“Cristiano Ronaldo is an excellent player. It is something that he has shown through his game. He is a very exuberant player and a very fair player. He is a very correct player. That's what he does on the pitch.”

Roma, who suffered a 7-1 defeat at Old Trafford at the same stage of last season's competition, must become the first team to overturn a 2-0 deficit in the Champions League knockout stages. But with Francesco Totti, their captain, sidelined with a thigh injury, Roma perhaps lack the cutting edge required to take advantage of United's defensive injury problems.

However, Spalletti insisted last night that his team can beat United. “If I sat here and said what we were going to do to them it might provoke them and then it could rebound on us, but I believe my players are capable of overturning any score,” he said. “It would be presumptuous of me to come here and say that we were going to impose ourselves on United and do this or do that. It is important to be humble. Humility is a very important quality. We need to work hard against a team like United, a team that has players who are prepared to give everything for their team.”

Roma suffered a 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford during the group phase of this season's Champions League, but the spectre of last April's mauling continues to loom over Spalletti and his players. “One of the important things is to accept defeat and learn from it,” he said. “What happened last season was a one-off, but United showed all of their many qualities and everything went in their favour.

“We cannot afford to let that happen again. United are very good at exploiting the qualities they have and, in Carlos Tévez and Wayne Rooney, they have two forwards who show the way by fighting for everything and helping their team-mates in midfield.

“Nothing is impossible, though, and if we are still in the game after 60 minutes, it will be an interesting final half an hour.”

- Manchester United will definitely be missing Nemanja Vidic tonight and may well be without Rio Ferdinand, his central defensive partner, which should give AS Roma hope. Since the start of last season, United have conceded goals almost twice as frequently when one or both of their first-choice centre backs have not been on the pitch. With the pair in action, United let in roughly half a goal per game; when the partnership is broken the figure becomes almost one goal per match. Sir Alex Ferguson’s team shipped two goals without Vidic against Middlesbrough on Sunday and last season let in five in two games against AC Milan in the Champions League semi-finals, when both players missed the first leg and only a half-fit Vidic featured in the return match

Key clash Gerard Piqué v Mirko Vucinic

Since being snapped up from Barcelona’s youth academy in the summer of 2004, Piqué has been talked about as “one for the future” at United, but now, at the age of 21, it appears that opportunity knocks. Vucinic is far from the most prolific of centre forwards, but, like the absent Francesco Totti, he is an intelligent leader of the line, looking to create space for those around him. For Piqué, it will be an interesting examination