Man Utd v Roma

Champions League, Group F
Date: Tuesday, 2 October
Kick-off: 1945 BST
Venue: Old Trafford
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Tomasz Kuszczak will make his Champions League debut for Manchester United after fellow goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar was ruled out with a toe injury.

Defenders Wes Brown and Nemanja Vidic are also doubts for the home side after picking up knocks against Birmingham.

But former Bayern Munich midfielder Owen Hargreaves is in line to make his European debut for the Red Devils.

Roma are missing winger Rodrigo Taddei and defenders Christian Panucci and Marco Cassetti because of injury.

News conference: Man Utd boss Sir Alex Ferguson Report: Totti apologises to Man Utd fan

However, midfielder Simone Perrotta could play despite injuring his thigh in the 4-1 league loss to Inter Milan.

Van der Sar has not conceded a goal in seven hours and 44 minutes since he was beaten by Geovanni's deflected effort off Vidic in the derby against Manchester City.

But Pole Kuszczak, 25, made a fine save from Gary McSheffrey's deflected shot after coming on at half-time in the 1-0 victory over Birmingham.

Tom Heaton, 21, will cover Kuszczak on the bench but has yet to play for United.

Cicinho looks set to return to the starting line-up in place of Panucci, who has a back injury.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson:

"It was a one-off (United's 7-1 defeat of Roma in last season's quarter-finals). It won't happen again. European football is just not that way these days.

"It was an exceptional performance. I think it will be difficult because Roma are playing well.

"It's a big occasion for them after the defeat they suffered last year. They will want to turn that scoreline around."

Roma coach Luciano Spalletti:

"We must forget our defeat to Inter and bounce back straight away. We are jumping into a completely different reality on Tuesday and we must be strong mentally.

"I have a great deal of faith in my players and I know they are capable of turning things around.

"It's a difficult match, you are preparing for a huge game against one of the greatest teams in the world.

"My team will work extremely hard to make up for what happened last time around (the 7-1 defeat). We want to draw a line under what happened then.

"If we talk about revenge or vendetta then we risk playing in the wrong state of mind."

BIG MATCH STATS

Head-to-heads

Manchester United inflicted on AS Roma the heaviest defeat ever in the knock-out stages of the Champions League when they won 7-1 in the quarter-finals at Old Trafford on 10 April 2007.

Roma won their only previous meeting with the Red Devils 2-1, in the home leg.

European history

Manchester United are participating in the Champions League for the 13th time, which makes them joint record holders with FC Porto. They are also competing in their 12th successive CL campaign, which is the longest streak ever.

This is AS Roma's fifth season in the Champions League. Their appearance in the last eight last season was their longest run in the competition to date.

Current European form

United have won their last six CL home matches, and are undefeated in nine at Old Trafford.

AC Milan inflicted the last defeat in the Champions League on Sir Alex Ferguson's side at the Theatre of Dreams; 1-0 on 23 February 2005.

Player and disciplinary info

Gary Neville (98), Ryan Giggs (96) and Paul Scholes (96) are three Manchester United players that are ranked among the top 10 with most CL appearances.

Christian Panucci is Roma's most experienced player in this competition with 63 matches. If he plays, AS Roma's Mirko Vucinic will have appearing on his 24th birthday.

Other miscellaneous facts

Cristiano Ronaldo scored the only goal in Manchester United's 1-0 victory at Birmingham City on Saturday, to leave them second in the Premier League table, with 17 points from eight matches.

Meanwhile, AS Roma suffered a devastating 1-4 defeat at the hands of Serie A leaders Internazionale. It was Roma's first defeat of the season, and leaves them with 11 points from six matches, three fewer than leaders Inter.

Definitions of terms used:-

Champions League (CL) - only group phase matches and beyond of this competition which began in 1992-93.
Champions Cup/Champions League - all matches played since it began in 1955-56 including qualification matches.
European matches - all matches played in the major European tournaments (Fairs Cup, Uefa Cup, Cup Winners' Cup, Champions Cup, Champions League).
Uefa Super Cups, Intertoto Cups and the old Intercontinental Cup competition are excluded.

Big Match Stats source: Infostrada Sports

Source: BBC Sport