Manchester United fans, let’s take you back to April 2007, back when your club, following a 2-1 loss in Rome, took it upon themselves to dismantle AS Roma 7-1 at Old Trafford.
Michael Carrick was still a player (he scored twice), Alan Smith wore the red shirt (he scored the second) and Cristiano Ronaldo scored his first ever Champions League goal.
Back then, a young boy named Lorenzo Pellegrini, born in Rome and soon to be 11, watched on as his beloved club were unceremoniously dumped out of the Champions League.
Fast forward 14 years, and that same kid is now AS Roma’s captain, having helped his side beat Ajax Amsterdam 2-1 in the Europa League in Holland, with a win back home setting up a likely clash against none other than a Manchester United led by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who came off the bench for Ryan Giggs in the 61st minute of that 7-1.
The Norwegian’s men beat Granada 2-0 in Spain, meaning they are also well on their way to make the competition’s semi-finals.
Corriere dello Sport have a big article on Pellegrini on Tuesday, and it’s made clear that the potential fixture against Manchester United ‘would be a way of taking revenge for the horrible meetings’ between the two clubs that he has witnessed as ‘a great Giallorossi fan’.
They explain he was barely 11 when he watched the 7-1 on TV, followed by the four meetings the next season, that saw the Red Devils come out victorious in three of them.
Now the only Rome born member of the first XI likely to take the field should the two sides meet (neither Simone Farelli nor Riccardo Calafiori are regulars), it’s made clear he also has a ‘long memory’.
That’s why finishing off Ajax is ‘fundamental’ to ensure qualification for the next round, and therefore get a chance at ‘changing history and finally storm the Theatre of Dreams’.
