Uefa Cup Fourth round, second leg Roma 2 Middlebrough 1 Middlebrough win 2-2 on agg (away goal)The flares and fireworks unleashed by Roma's ultras here last night were intended to intimidate Middlesbrough. Instead, they served to illuminate Steve McClaren's side's achievement in reaching the quarter-finals on a night when Luciano Spalletti's Italians were hoist by their own counter-attacking petard.
Headed home by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink from Stewart Downing's immaculate cross, Boro's own breakaway goal ensured they enter tomorrow's draw thanks to the away-goal rule.
A wonderful city for lovers, culture vultures, shoppers and foodies, the Eternal City can be dangerous place for visiting soccer fans as the stabbings, street fights and ambushes by Roma's masked fans testify. Having dodged the violence, some Boro fans found themselves undone by the Italian capital's army of light-fingered pickpockets and many pundits expected Roma to subject McClaren's men to a similarly subtle fate.
Instead, Spalletti's side cast off their customary cloak of counter-attacking patience as, evidently deciding they did not really have the time to play too much cat and mouse, Roma aimed to threaten Middlesbrough's goal at every opportunity.
This assault began in the first minute when Philippe Mexes' long ball ruffled Gareth Southgate and co.
McClaren had predicted this would be a "very different" Roma from the one which lost 1-0 in the first leg last week, and so it proved. Spalletti's side lacked an authentic striker and he fielded three attacking midfielders in attack, featuring Simone Perrotta in a withdrawn role behind Alessandro Mancini and Rodrigo Taddei.
The watching Sven-Goran Eriksson must have been delighted to see Downing conjure a classic break-away goal for Hasselbaink.
McClaren insisted Boro were capable of scoring last night, and they did so after 32 minutes when Downing escaped down the left and eluded Cesare Bovo. Downing then delivered a perfect cross from which Hasselbaink, advancing from his deep-lying role and manfully holding off Mexes, sent a header beyond Gianluca Curci.
Now Roma required three goals. "There'll be twists and turns before the final whistle," McClaren predicted before the game and so it proved when, at the end of a fluid movement, Mancini's first-time, rising shot from inside the area arrowed past Mark Schwarzer and just inside the far post.
If the six Catholic priests from Teesside, who had combined the match with an audience with the Pope, suddenly felt in need of a little divine reassurance, it nearly arrived when Downing provided Yakubu Aiyegbeni with a glorious cross only for Curci to kill the danger.
A second-half Mancini shot was just diverted for a corner before Mancini scored his second from a penalty as Roma camped in Boro's half - but the visitors held out to reach the quarter-final stage of the Uefa Cup.
AS ROMA: Curci, Kuffour, Bovo, Mexes, Chivu (Panucci 86), Taddei, Alvarez (Aquilani 71), Mancini, Dacourt (Okaka Chuka 63), De Rossi, Perrotta. Subs Not Used: Eleftheropoulos, Kharja, Cufre, Rosi. Sent Off: Mexes (90). Booked: Mexes, Mancini, Aquilani, Bovo. Goals: Mancini 43, 66 pen.
MIDDLESBROUGH: Schwarzer, Davies (Queudrue 45), Riggott, Southgate, Pogatetz, Mendieta, Boateng, Cattermole, Downing, Hasselbaink, Yakubu (Parlour 58). Subs Not Used: Jones, Ehiogu, Doriva, Viduka, Maccarone. Booked: Cattermole, Boateng, Pogatetz. Goals: Hasselbaink 32.
Referee: T Ovrebo (Norway).
