Four things spring to mind when we talk about a clash with Roma: Foremost in every United fan (and every Roma fan as well, albeit with a hint of dread) would be the 7-1 win at Old Trafford; the second would be the shit United fans had to put up with every time they went to Rome; the third, although to a lesser extent, would be Francesco Totti; and the fourth, especially when we got to hear the draw would have been, ‘Oh no, not again!’

So there we go, in yet another edition of a Roma-United clash; the word ‘clash’, we’d hope is not literal, and something our fans don’t face today.

But before diving into the excitement, let’s get a little United related news out of the way first. It’ll be quick, I assure you.

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Manchester United have been, for several years now, circumspect in Europe (ponderous and over-cautious if you want to be picky about it). It’s not something the fans enjoy, but it is a combination of Fergie’s choices and how our players perform (both are equally responsible), so we have to come to terms with it.

On the surface, the season has gone well – United are one point behind Arsenal with a superior goal difference and Arsenal still to come to Old Trafford. United are also in the quarter-finals of both the FA Cup and the Champions League, and would be good bets to progress to the last four in each of the competitions.

But there are times when United’s performances disappoint and leave you wanting for much more. Last night’s performance against Lyon at Old Trafford was one of those games.

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Alain Perrin thinks Karim Benzema would be a big hit at OT today — a big hit for Lyon, that is. The young hotshot was more than a handful for our defence, manufacturing a goal out of nowhere in the first leg. So he is certainly one to watch out for. I certainly rate the mountain of a player.

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There has been a lot of talk on midfielders in the comments section, I realise Penguin did a post on this topic, however, his was more centred on individuals whereas I will be looking at partnerships as well. And there is a big decision to be made by SAF on who to play in the centre of the park on Tuesday when we host Lyon in the second leg of the tie.

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As most of us already know, the year 2008 would represent 50 years since the Munich disaster. It is also 40 years since the 1968 European Cup win.

Ideally, we would love to mark these occasions with a win in the Champions’ League. Of course, it would be great if such a thing actually happened. Anyway, we admit we didn’t bring out a ‘breaking news’ of some sort once the UEFA draw got over. But now that you’ve had some time to have looked at the groups it might be good to discuss about how our group stacks up with the rest.

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