MIGHTY Manchester United crushed Roma with a scintillating display at Old Trafford to progress to the Champions League semi-finals.

Goals from Michael Carrick (two), Alan Smith, Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo (two) and Patrice Evra ripped the Giallorossi apart, with Daniele de Rossi scoring the visitors' consolation.

The Reds went into the game trailing 2-1 but scored three goals in the first 19 minutes to set up their biggest European win since 1968.

They will face the winner of Bayern Munich v AC Milan in the semis.

In 20 years as United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson has seen and done virtually everything.

But never, in five previous attempts, has he presided over a Champions League knockout stage win from a first-leg defeat. And never, ever, has he seen one of his teams go out against the Italian masters of defence and score seven times.

It was all the more remarkable because they were missing at least four automatic members of the Scot’s first-choice line-up.

On this evidence, who can possibly stop them lifting the trophy for a third time in Athens on May 23.

Joyous

As the hosts headed off down the tunnel at half-time, their joyous supporters cheered themselves hoarse, wondering, perhaps, whether they had just witnessed the most amazing 45 minutes of European football this ground has ever seen.

After surviving a couple of early scares, United hit Roma like a whirlwind. The football they produced simply took the breath away.

The usual protagonists were to the fore as expected, but so too were Darren Fletcher, who probably only got his chance because Paul Scholes was suspended, and Carrick, who scored the first, played a major role in the second and at a stroke swept away the doubters who believed at £18.6million, the summer signing from Tottenham was far too expensive.

Carrick set United on their way in nerveless fashion, collecting Ronaldo’s square pass, then advancing on the Roma goal.

Doni may look back and feel he got his angles wrong but in offering Carrick a clear sight of his top left-hand corner, he committed goalkeeping suicide. The midfielder gleefully dispatched a curling shot to light the blue touch paper on the end of which Roma’s Champions League dream was burnt to a frazzle.

The home crowd were still buzzing when Carrick laid an exquisite pass to Rooney, who instantly flicked the ball onto Ryan Giggs. The Welshman’s through ball deflected off Cristian Chivu to Smith.

In smashing home his shot, the Yorkshireman was banishing 14 months of injury hell. He was also scoring his first United goal since November 2005 and his first in this competition since netting for Leeds against Deportivo La Coruna at the same stage six years ago.

Reeling

Roma were still reeling when they were hit by another thunderbolt as Ronaldo released Giggs, whose cross was flicked into the far corner by Rooney.

Having scored his first goal in 18 Champions League games a week ago, the England man suddenly has a taste for it.

So too, Ronaldo, who prior to this onslaught had never scored a goal in the competition but had predicted in a pre-match programme interview his time was coming.

It proved to be a fairly accurate assessment of the situation too as he collected the ball from Giggs two minutes before the break, attacked Chivu with his usual directness and slammed the ball into the bottom corner.

And that, for the first half at least, was that.

Rooney began the second period with a fizzing shot Doni flicked over.

Giggs’ corner was half cleared but when Rooney ferried a pass back to the Welshman, he drilled a low cross to the far post where Ronaldo was waiting to bundle it home.

A sixth followed on the hour as Carrick collected Gabriel Heinze’s pass and arrowed a shot into the top corner which was even better than his first effort.

De Rossi pulled one back for Roma but Evra soon cancelled it out to complete the rout.

What is your verdict on the game? Have your say.