Mancini rejects Old Trafford parallels

AS Roma forward Mancini promised his team would not repeat the mistakes they made in last season's humiliating UEFA Champions League defeat by Manchester United FC when they travel to Real Madrid CF on 5 March defending a 2-1 lead.

'Never happen again'
Roma carried a similar lead into the quarter-final return in Manchester last April before capitulating 7-1 but the message from Mancini, scorer of the second-half winner in last night's first knockout round first leg, was that lightning will not strike twice. "I'm sure we will not make the same mistake we did against Manchester United last season," said the Brazilian. "I admit that when the referee blew the final whistle I thought immediately about that game, but now we are more mature and better prepared. I'm sure what happened at Old Trafford will never happen again."

Praise for Totti
Mancini acclaimed the "spirit and attitude" of his team-mates who won the game despite falling behind to an early Raúl González goal. He had particular praise for captain Francesco Totti, whose through ball set up his winning goal after David Pizarro's equaliser. "We practice that move in training and [coach Luciano] Spalletti always tells me to run into space in that situation," said the 27-year-old. "Francesco and I have a great playing relationship. We haven't talked to each other for two years because we had some problems off the pitch and we are both proud people. But on the pitch, we have always linked very well and tonight he gave me a great ball with his typical style."

More mature
Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi echoed Mancini's words that this was a more mature performance by the Serie A team. "We proved we learned something from last season. The defeat in Manchester was a good lesson for us. After conceding an early goal we all looked to attack, lost our balance and everybody knows how it ended. Tonight it was completely different. However, we are only halfway there and we will have to be very careful in Spain."

Cannavaro laments luck
Madrid's Italian defender Fabio Cannavaro lamented the Spanish champions' current run of luck – this was their third defeat in four matches. "We played well tonight and Roma only got two chances but scored two goals," said Cannavaro, who was making his 100th appearance in UEFA club competitions. "We were saying in the dressing room that previously we were playing teams who would have ten shots on goal and not get one in, and now they are scoring with every effort." In fact Madrid had more than twice as many shots as Roma – 13 to the hosts' five – but managed only three on target, the same as the Giallorossi.

Robben optimism
Yet there remained cause for optimism in the Madrid camp, winger Arjen Robben summing up the mood when he said: "Roma played like you'd expect – very well-organised and difficult to break down – and because of that you could say we played very well. We created a lot of chances and dominated the game so we can take a lot of positives and go into the second leg with confidence."