Boro target shock victory
14 Mar 2006 - 07:40:09
Middlesbrough travel to the Eternal City this week as they bid to secure a famous and unlikely UEFA Cup victory against AS Roma.
Boro won the first leg on Teesside last Thursday 1-0 thanks to Yakubu's early penalty and both sides fielded weakened sides on Sunday as they prepared for Wednesday's return clash.
Roma lost a Serie A match for the first time since mid-December when they surprisingly slumped 3-2 at Ascoli.
Luciano Spalletti's side were 3-0 down at half-time and, despite Rodrigo Taddei cutting the deficit in the 72nd minute and Gianluca Comotto scoring an own goal two minutes later, they could not grab an equaliser.
Roma, who recently went on a record-breaking winning run of 11 Serie A matches, had Cristian Chivu sent off two minutes from time as they stayed fifth in the table.
Spalletti was without captain Francesco Totti, sidelined with a broken leg, Shabani Nonda (knee) and Vincenzo Montella (back) for Sunday's defeat.
A much-changed Boro line-up produced an encouraging performance at Charlton Athletic on Sunday even though they left The Valley with a 2-1 defeat.
Boss Steve McClaren only started with two players - Mark Schwarzer and Emanuel Pogatetz - who had played in the first leg against Roma, but his young team looked set to take at least a point from their long trip to the capital until the last quarter of the game.
Darren Bent headed the Addicks into a 72nd-minute lead and, although Mark Viduka grabbed a spectacular equaliser for Boro, Bent grabbed the winner for Alan Curbishley's side with a close-range finish with only three minutes left.
Right-back Tony McMahon limped out of Sunday's game following a clash with Bryan Hughes and had to be replaced by Andrew Davies in the 12th minute, while George Boateng is a doubt for Wednesday's game after sustaining an ankle injury at the Riverside in the first leg.
Fabio Rochemback (ankle), Stuart Parnaby (hamstring) and James Morrison (hip) were also ruled out of the trip to The Valley, while Stewart Downing is also a doubt for the trip to Italy.