AS Roma thrashed CSKA Moscow 5-1 in their return to the Champions League on Wednesday, after last featuring in the competition three years ago.
Roma had last featured in the Champions League in the 2010-11 season when they reached the last 16. But after a three-year wait, and having finished runners-up to Juventus in the Serie A title race last season, Rudi Garcia's men have underlined their intention to claim one of the two coveted qualifying places from a Group E which also includes Bayern Munich and Manchester City.
Roma can now look forward to a trip to Manchester on September 30 to face Manuel Pellegrini's men, who started with a 1-0 defeat to Bayern in Germany, Sport24 reported.
Garcia had rested a number of key players for Roma's visit to Empoli last weekend and his strategy paid off, with Argentinian Juan Iturbe, who sat out the 1-0 win in Tuscany, firing Roma into a 1-0 lead in the sixth minute after a mazy run that left him in a one-on-one with CSKA goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev.
Gervinho doubled the hosts' lead in the 10th minute with a fine piece of control before slotting the ball past the outstretched Akinfeev.
Leonid Slutsky's side missed what could have been a game-changing chance in the 16th minute when Seydou Doumbia powered upfield on the counter to find himself on a one-on-one with Morgan De Sanctis. But only yards from the Roma 'keeper, Doumbia inexplicably lost his footing and lost control.
CSKA were pushing up in desperation, but that strategy left holes at the back, which Roma promptly exploited.
Four minutes later Brazilian defender Maicon was allowed space on the right and he let loose an angled drive, which Akinfeev failed to hold, the ball slipping past his grasp and into the net.
Roma suffered a blow minutes later when Alessandro Florenzi replaced Iturbe with an apparent leg injury. However it did not stop Roma from scoring.
Gervinho grabbed his second of the match, and Roma's fourth, after collecting from Francesco Totti and sliding the ball past Akinfeev.
CSKA re-emerged from the half-time break determined to make amends but only five minutes in the visitors crumbled, as Sergei Ignashevich scored an own goal after a cross from Vassilis Torossidis, given the nod at left-back in place of Ashley Cole, came off the defender's back.
The Russians grabbed a late consolation when Ahmed Musa dribbled his way into the penalty area to beat De Sanctis from close range, the report added.
