Roma striker Edin Dzeko said Manchester United are favourites ahead of the semi-final but stressed the Giallorossi ‘aim to win the trophy’.
The Bosnian spoke to UEFA’s official website ahead of the first leg against the Red Devils at Old Trafford on Thursday.
The veteran recalls having scored his first goal in the Champions League at Old Trafford during his time with VfL Wolfsburg.
He then went on to score four more goals at Old Trafford when he played for the local rivals Manchester City.
Roma striker Edin Dzeko said Manchester United are favourites ahead of the semi-final but stressed the Giallorossi ‘aim to win the trophy’.
The Bosnian spoke to UEFA’s official website ahead of the first leg against the Red Devils at Old Trafford on Thursday.
The veteran recalls having scored his first goal in the Champions League at Old Trafford during his time with VfL Wolfsburg.
He then went on to score four more goals at Old Trafford when he played for the local rivals Manchester City.
“I will never forget my first goal at Old Trafford against Manchester United, also because it was the first goal of the game, my first goal in the Champions League and my first game in one of the greatest stadiums in the world,” Dzeko told UEFA.
“It’s one of my favourite goals. It came from a cross from the left from Makoto Hasebe. I was on the far post and I think [Patrice] Evra was in front of me.
“I jumped higher and scored with a header. It’s not only one of my favourite goals, but it was also a pretty good goal.”
The 35-year-old has scored 290 goals in 631 competitive games during his career, but admits every goal is as good as the first.
“I celebrate every goal as if it were my first. That’s how I feel. Some say there are more important and better goals, but I look at them all the same, because that’s my job,” the striker continued.
“The love for goals is in my blood. As long as the ball crosses the line, I don’t care if I scored from one, 20 or 50 metres.
“At the end of the game, the scoreboard says ‘Dzeko’, not how I scored. Whey you gain a certain level of experience, you obviously put less pressure on yourself from a goalscoring point of view.
“When you are young, on the other hand, you just have to show who you are, and every goal brings you something new.
“Now I’m 35 and I still want to score. When I score at the start of a game, that goal gives me the strength to play even better.”
Dzeko said he has not been in Manchester since he left City in August 2015 and expects ‘a great match’ against his former rivals.
“I haven’t returned to Manchester since I left City six years ago,” he admitted. “It will be a special match for me, as it was a derby a few years ago.
“European matches, especially against opponents of this calibre, are special. I expect it to be a great match against Manchester United and I hope that everything will turn out fine for us.”
The Bosnia international claims Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men are the favourites ahead of the two legs.
“To play in semi-finals doesn’t happen every day,” he continued. “We know their strength. Manchester United surely start as favourites, but the very fact of having reached the semi-finals gives us the right to believe in it.
“We know that we too have quality, but we have to play as a team. Then, in football, everything is possible.”
Roma are seventh in Serie A, 11 points behind the top four in Italy with five games remaining. Thus, the Europa League is increasingly important to secure a place in the Champions League next term and Dzeko aims to win the competition.
“When you play in a semi-final, the target can only be that [to win],” Dzeko said. “Maybe, at the beginning of the Europa League, you don’t think too far ahead.
“But when you are so close, winning undoubtedly becomes the target. We have one of the strongest opponents in the last 20 years of European football ahead of us, and it won’t be easy.
“We are aware of that, but we must not be afraid. Anything is possible.”