Roma travel to Germany on Tuesday night to face Bayer Leverkusen at the BayArena in the Champions League, in the first of back to back games against the Bundesliga side over the next two weeks.
The Giallorossi realistically need a result on Tuesday to keep alive their chances of qualifying for the knock-out stages of the competition after dropping four points already in Group E so far. The Roman giants should be in good spirits heading into the fixture, however, after beating Empoli 3-1 in Serie A on Saturday evening.
I Lupi currently sit at the bottom of Group E after match day two on one point, after picking up their solitary point which in their first game, at the Stadio Olimpico, a 1-1 draw with Champions League holders Barcelona. A visit to face BATE Borisov followed but a disastrous first half saw Rudi Garcia’s men 3-0 down after 30 minutes. A second half fight back in which the Romans pulled two goals back wasn’t enough to avoid a shock 3-2 defeat against the groups minnows.
Bayer meanwhile got off to a flying start in the group, putting four past BATE at the BayArena in a 4-1 victory with two goals from attacking midfielder and set piece specialist Hakan Calhanoglu. They followed that up with a fine performance at the Nou Camp but narrowly lost 2-1 to the Catalans after conceding two goals in the last 10 minutes. Since that defeat in Spain, Bayer have drawn their two Bundesliga games, a 1-1 draw with Augsburg before the international break and a 0-0 draw with Hamburg away on Saturday.
The sides have only met twice in the Champions League since it inception, with the Germans winning 3-1 at the BayArena in October in the 2004/2005 season group stages, and claiming a 1-1 draw a month later at the Stadio Olimpico. The German side went on to win the group ahead of Real Madrid, with the Giallorossi finishing bottom with only one point from their six games.
Roma striker Francesco Totti could make a return to the squad on the bench while Edin Dzeko is also back in the squad following his injury and is expected to start. Midfielder Seydou Keita won’t be fit until mid-November while Kevin Strootman is a long-term absentee and wasn’t included in the Champions League squad list.
Bayer have virtually a full strength squad to choose from with Calhanoglu set to return to the side after being a substitute in their 0-0 draw with Hamburg on Saturday.
Form Guide: Bayer Leverkusen (L-W-W-L-D-D) Roma (D-L-W-L-W-W)
Expected Starting XIs:
Roma: Szczesny; Torosidis, Manolas, Castan, Digne; De Rossi, Pjanic; Florenzi, Salah, Gervinho; Dzeko
Bayer Leverkusen: Leno; Donati, Papadopoulos, Tah, Boenisch; Bellarabi, Toprak, Kramer, Brandt; Calhanoglu; Kiessling
