Ferguson hoping for no repeat of Roma violence

MANCHESTER, England, Aug 31 (Reuters) Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson hopes that lessons have been learned and there will be no repeat of last season's crowd trouble when his side have their re-match with AS Roma in the Champions League.

United were angry at the way their supporters were treated by Italian police and Roma fans at the Stadio Olimpico in April when 11 visiting fans were taken to hospital and others were injured following clashes inside and outside the ground.

Ferguson's side have now been paired again with the Italians in Group F and face a trip to Rome on December 12 after hosting them at Old Trafford on October 2.

''What disturbed us at the time when we saw the video footage was that all the police were in the Manchester United section,'' Ferguson told a news conference today.

''There were no police in the Roma fans' section so therefore they were free to hurl all sorts of objects at our fans.

''I think there was some story that the Rome police were scared to get among their fans. I would find that quite incredulous but I think there should be equal amount of control of both sets of fans.'' Ferguson added: ''Hopefully lessons have been learned by what happened last year because someone could have been killed.

''In fact when you saw some of it you were amazed nobody was actually killed. Hopefully that's an instant reminder to us seven or eight months later.

''There needs to be good behaviour from our fans of course - although I don't think they did a lot wrong from what I can gather. They have to be absolutely vigilant about their behaviour, not to be intimidated, go to watch the game and enjoy it and cheer the team and that's what we expect them to do.'' Both Roma and United were fined by UEFA over the crowd trouble which marred last season's quarter-final tie won by United.

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