UNITED stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney scored to give the Reds a precious away victory against Roma in the Stadio Olimpico.

Portuguese winger Ronaldo, who has been in such stunning domestic form, proved he could perform in the Champions League by powering home a first-half header.

Rooney then took advantage of a goal-line scramble to tap in a second and give Sir Alex Ferguson's men a major advantage going into next Wednesday's return leg at Old Trafford.

Rio Ferdinand was in majestic form in defence, and his performance was particularly impressive considering Nemanja Vidic left the field with a knee injury after just 33 minutes.

In the night's other quarter-final, Barcelona won 1-0 at Schalke, meaning a clash with the Spanish giants in the semi-finals is looking likely.

It was a marvellous show of composure from United, who went into the match on the back of six straight Barclays Premier League wins.

And given they had taken four points off Roma in the group stages this season, it was little surprise they approached this match with confidence.

Park Ji-Sung’s inclusion in the United side was a surprise and he got into a good position after 12 minutes only for Christian Panucci to take the ball off his toes as he shaped to shoot.

United were knocking the ball around in midfield, and Ronaldo tried his luck with a free-kick from all of 30 yards only to see his effort go wide of the post in the 22nd minute.

United then suffered a blow when Vidic landed awkwardly on his knee. Although the centre-back was desperate to continue, eventually he was replaced by John O'Shea.

Ronaldo was anxious to improve on his 35-goal tally but not surprisingly was finding himself closely marked. However, he broke free of his shackles in the 39th minute to make the breakthrough.

Released

After a smart turn, Rooney released Scholes on the right and he delivered a delicate chip into the area.

Ronaldo sprinted from deep, leapt and headed the ball beyond Brazilian goalkeeper Doni for a brilliant effort.

The Portugal winger was left dazed in the incident but recovered quickly to United’s relief.

Roma came out with  more purpose after the break and after Panucci had passed up a simple volleyed chance Edwin van der Sar made a fine one-handed stop from Mirko Vucinic.

This was a difficult time for United and Vucinic was proving to be a bit of a handful in the absence of Francesco Totti.

United, however, made it 2-0 in the 67th minute when Park headed the ball into the area at the back post.

It resulted in a mix-up between Doni and Panucci with Rooney on hand to knock the ball home.

With Roma pouring forward, United looked dangerous on the break and Ronaldo skipped away from his marker only to see his effort come back off the post.

The same player volleyed narrowly over late on but by then United had already gained an invaluable away win.

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