United and Barca move towards clash

Manchester United beat Roma 2-0 away and Barcelona won 1-0 at Schalke in their Champions

League quarter-final, first-leg matches on Tuesday to take big steps towards a semi-final

showdown.

Goals by Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney either side of halftime gave United victory at the

Stadio Olimpico as the English champions continued to torment Roma.

Alex Ferguson's side have beaten their Italian rivals in three of their last four matches and appear

set to send them packing from Europe's premier club competition again after an 8-3 aggregate

drubbing at the same stage last season.

United won the second leg of that contest 7-1 and only an unlikely slip-up in the second leg at

Old Trafford will prevent them from reaching their second successive semi-final.

If they do meet Barcelona it would renew an old rivalry for United who beat the Catalan side 2-1

in the 1991 European Cup Winners' Cup final and fought out two enthralling 3-3 draws in the

group stage of their 1999 Champions League triumph.

Ronaldo headed United into a 39th minute-lead at the Stadio Olimpico on Tuesday with his 36th

goal of the season in all competitions and Rooney sealed the win midway through the second

half when he scrambled home a loose ball from close range.

United weathered an early second half onslaught but could have won by a bigger margin after

Ronaldo shaved the post and Michael Carrick came close with a curling low drive.

Ferguson, though, said the victory was far from comfortable."It's a very good team we played against of course. We had to defend really well at times," he

told ITV.

Ronaldo added: "It's a very good performance. Everyone knows it's a tough game. Roma played

very well but we created a few chances. I think we deserved this win." (source: yahoo/reuters)