Manchester United became the third English club to qualify for the Champions League semi-finals when they beat Roma 1-0 at Old Trafford yesterday for a 3-0 aggregate quarter-final victory.
Carlos Tevez scored the only goal after 70 minutes when he dived low to head in an Owen Hargreaves cross and secure United's 11th straight home win in European competition.
Roma had a great chance to get back in the tie when they were awarded a dubious 30th-minute penalty by Norwegian referee Tom Henning Ovrebo who ruled that Wes Brown had fouled Mancini. However, Daniele de Rossi blasted the spot kick over the bar.
United, into the last four for the second successive season, will now face Barcelona while Liverpool will meet Chelsea in the other all-English semi-final tie.
With progression assured, United manager Alex Ferguson yesterday took the chance to hand Gary Neville a comeback from the ankle injury which has kept him out for the last 13 months.
The United skipper took back the armband for the last ten minutes as the Red Devils saw out their record 11th-consecutive Champions League victory.
At the Nou Camp, Barcelona placated their discontented fans and set up a mouth-watering semi-final against United with a nervy 1-0 win over Schalke 04.
Barca, 1-0 up from the first leg of the quarter-final in Gelsenkirchen, were put under severe pressure in the opening half hour but the Schalke storm blew itself out just before halftime and the Catalans were gifted a goal after a series of mishaps in the German defence.
Midfielder Yaya Toure scuffed the ball in from close range in the 43rd minute after a Bojan Krkic cross from the right had ballooned off the foot of a defender and was then headed off the line.
Barca, the only non-English side in the last four, will host United in the first leg on April 23 and visit the Premier League leaders at Old Trafford the following week.
"We are delighted to get to the semis and especially to play against United," club president Joan Laporta said.
The match took place in an atmosphere of high tension following fans' protests over Barca's recent run of poor results and remarks by a high-ranking club official that Barcelona had used injuries to hide the fact that a number of players had been sidelined for indiscipline.
It looked as though Barca would be in for a difficult night when Schalke picked up where they had finished off in the first leg and put the home side under heavy pressure as they surged through the home side's ragged midfield.
Schalke looked the more dangerous side in attack, midfielder Jermaine Jones sending a shot skidding just wide of the far post and striker Kevin Kuranyi missing a gilt-edged chance when he failed to get his foot to a cross a metre from the goal.
Schalke began to tire and Barca cashed in almost immediately thanks to a catalogue of mistakes in the German defence.
A low cross from Krkic almost ended up in the back of the net when it deflected off centre-back Marcelo Bordon, but Mladen Krstajic headed it clear as far as Toure who stabbed home from close range.
The goal steadied Barca and they almost extended their lead at the start of the second half, Iniesta only denied by a brilliant save from Neuer.