As the Italian sports media yesterday tried to come to terms with AS Roma's embarrassing 7-1 rout by Manchester United on Tuesday night, one word popped up everywhere - "humiliated".

"Bye Bye Dreams, Roma Humiliated in Manchester", went the front page of Rome daily La Repubblica; "Roma Humiliated, Manchester United Superb", went sports daily Gazzetta dello Sport; "Manchester United Humiliate a Roma Too Bad To Watch", echoed Rome daily Il Messaggero.

This was the heaviest Italian club defeat in European competition, and there was a liberal sprinkling of the words "nightmare" and "hell". Most commentators agreed there were simply no excuses for Roma, with many arguing the Serie A side had shown a pathetic inexperience in their rush to get back into the game after Michael Carrick's opening goal for United, thus leaving themselves open to the counter-attacking second and third goals scored soon after by Alan Smith and Wayne Rooney:

"Roma lived through a nightmare in Manchester. Sure, things looked bad for them when Taddei was a last-minute withdrawal after the loss of Tonetto and Perrotta. But that is not enough and does nothing to ease the pain of a game that hurts, just to think about it," commented Rome sports daily Corriere dello Sport.

"Roma lasted just eight minutes at Old Trafford, the first eight minutes that is. In the second eight minutes, they conceded three goals as they went on their way to an unprecedented disaster," commented Gazzetta dello Sport.

"When a football match ends up 7-1, that doesn't mean that one of the teams has played badly. Rather, that it failed to turn up. That's what happened to Roma in Manchester. Sitting on the bench, (Roma coach) Spalletti had the look of someone who regretted he could not use the rules of boxing. A boxing coach can throw in the towel to save his fighter further humiliation but at Old Trafford, Roma were forced to drain their bitter chalice, right to the very last drop," commented La Repubblica.

The clash between Francesco Totti and Cristiano Ronaldo, everyone agreed, was won by Ronaldo, with many calling the United player the "best in the world".

"When Cristiano Ronaldo, with the ball at his feet, started to do his celebrated stepovers after only 20 seconds, the Roma players looked like kids getting car sick at the very first bend," suggested La Repubblica.