Roma vs Manchester City – Preview: Win and you are in

Date: 9th December 2014 at 9:31am
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Roma’s destiny is in their hands as very simply, the Giallorossi must win to be guaranteed a place in the round of sixteen.

It is not so straightforward for Manchester City, as the reigning English Premier League champions must not only win, but hope that CSKA Moscow do not win against Bayern Munich.

With those being the easiest ways for both teams to go through to the next round, there are other permutations that could send one or the other into the knockout stages of the Champions Leauge, the Europa League or home.

Roma’s progression into the knockout stages should have been secured in their last match, but the team gave up a 90th minute goal to Vasily Berezutskiy, which means the capital side have a lot of work to do on match day six.

Roma come into the final group match after a fortunate draw with Sassuolo over the weekend in Serie A. Roma spent much of the match down two goals, but pulled themselves level with two late strikes. The second, assisted by Alessandro Florenzi, should have been judged offside as Florenzi received the ball a step behind the Sassuolo defence. Though the club got the late draw, the mental and defensive fragility of Roma showed against a mid-level Serie A team.

In comparision, Manchester City are coming off their best performance in the Champions League for some time. The English side defeated Bayern in a pulsating match as the goals finally flowed forth from the Blues. Since then, City have won three on the trot in the Premier League, including a dominating win against Everton at the weekend.

These two teams met back in September with City controlling much of the game. Despite that, Manuel Pellegrini’s side were wasteful. Roma’s counter attack worked to secure their goal, but Rudi Garcia may have to rethink his tactics in their rematch.

A scoreless draw will see the Romans through, but a score draw would be disastrous for the Giallorossi. With a score draw seeing City’s chances of progression increase – as long as CSKA lose – Pellegrini’s side will most likely go for blood from the kickoff.

Perhaps one saving grace for Roma will be Sergio Aguero’s absence from the fixture. The Argentine striker damaged knee ligaments in the club’s weekend win. Aguero has 19 goals in all competitions this season and his absence should help Roma’s defensive stability after the weekend’s poor display. Meanwhile, City could also be without top defender Vincent Kompany due to a knee injury

Garcia rested both Gervinho and Francesco Totti during their weekend fixture. Gervinho has been instrumental in Roma’s attack throughout the Champions League and having both players fresh should improve Roma’s chances.

But with several players – including Daniele De Rossi – letting the side down and  goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis letting in a howler at the weekend, Roma’s individual player form couldn’t be worse coming into Wednesday night’s crunch tie.

Roma will be through with a win, or a draw if CSKA draw with Bayern. If CSKA lose, Roma would be through with a goalless draw but out with a score draw.

Expected Starting XIs

Roma (4-3-3:) De Sanctis; Maicon, Manolas, Yanga-Mbwia; Holebas; Pjanic; De Rossi; Nainngolan; Gervinho; Totti; Ljajic

Manchester City (4-2-3-1): Hart; Zabaleta; Demichelis; Mangala; Clichy; Toure; Fernando; Navas, Silva; Milner; Jovetic

 

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