Barcelona will be trying to book their place in the Champions League knockout rounds when they face Roma at home on Tuesday. The home side are leading Group E by five points, so they need a draw to make sure they qualify. Things are a bit more desperate for Roma, who need anything they can get at Cam Nou in order to improve their chances to qualify. The reverse fixture ended 1-1, with Alessandro Florenzi making it all square ten minutes after Luis Suarez had opened the scoring. The previous meeting was back in 2002, when Roma won 3-0 in Italy and drew 1-1 at Barcelona.
Barcelona will be full of confidence after last weekend's 4-0 Clasico win at Santiago Bernabeu. They have won their last four matches, scored 12 goals in the process and also kept a clean sheet throughout. It will be a special match for head coach Luis Enrique as he faces former club Roma, he managed them between 2011 and 2013. Lionel Messi could be in line for a starting berth after coming in as a substitute against Real Madrid. Rafinha remains out of contention through injury, along with Javier Mascherano.
Roma are currently second in the group but they have just one point on third-placed Bayer Leverkusen, so a defeat might cost them the place. They have held Barcelona to a draw in the Italian capital and defeated Leverkusen in the last match, but they will have to keep on adding points if they want to qualify. Last weekend they were held to a 2-2 draw at Bologna. Gervinho, Mohamed Salah and Francesco Totti will be unavailable through injury.
Probable line-ups:
Barcelona: Ter Stegen - Alves, Pique, Bartra, Alba - Rakitic, Busquets, Roberto - Iniesta, Suarez, Neymar
Roma: Szczesny - Maicon, Manolas, Rudiger, Digne - Keita, Nainggolan, Pjanic - Florenzi, Dzeko, Iturbe
My prediction: Barcelona to win 3-1.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Barcelona win - 1.28 Draw - 6.00 Roma win - 12.00
sharpe
8 years ago
This looked as one of the most certain home wins in the tonight's CL games but I didn't expect Barcelona win to be so huge, they lead 5-0 deeply in the second half. Roma is one of the serious contenders for a title in Seria A this season but they couldn't afford such a results even against Barcelona if they wish people...
This looked as one of the most certain home wins in the tonight's CL games but I didn't expect Barcelona win to be so huge, they lead 5-0 deeply in the second half. Roma is one of the serious contenders for a title in Seria A this season but they couldn't afford such a results even against Barcelona if they wish people to take them seriously. Still they have a decent chance to qualify but maybe won't be so deserved if they do that after this result.
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GREGJO
8 years ago
Barcelona are in stunning form and flying high following a 4-0 thrashing of their biggest rivals, Real Madrid away from home at El Clasico at the weekend. I think the Catalan giant's players will be high in confidence but I hope the team confidence won't be completely exaggerated. This team is close to perfect in my opinion,...
Barcelona are in stunning form and flying high following a 4-0 thrashing of their biggest rivals, Real Madrid away from home at El Clasico at the weekend. I think the Catalan giant's players will be high in confidence but I hope the team confidence won't be completely exaggerated. This team is close to perfect in my opinion, they have such great attacking power with the likes of Suarez, Messi and Neymar. I'm sure they will score goal/goals against AS Roma but in my opinion Roma will have a better defense than Real Madrid had so I think it will be tighter than the odds suggests it. It's very hard to imagine how Roma can score goal or goals as they have several problems at the attacking line and midfield as well (Gervinho and Salah are injured, De Rossi is questionable) so my prediction is: Barcelna 2-0.
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advoghado
8 years ago
I agree with the victory of Barcelona here in this game, I see no other result mainly by the absence of the team Roma, (Gervinho, Salah and Totti) are players that could greatly help the Roma. On the side of Barcelona, comes from a great result in the derby against Real Madrid and the great phase of dual Suarez & Neymar,...
I agree with the victory of Barcelona here in this game, I see no other result mainly by the absence of the team Roma, (Gervinho, Salah and Totti) are players that could greatly help the Roma. On the side of Barcelona, comes from a great result in the derby against Real Madrid and the great phase of dual Suarez & Neymar, with the return of Messi too ...
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nik92 8 years ago
There are no chances for Roma at the Nou Camp. Barcelona is encouraged by winning Clasico,and entering this game with a great mood. Roma again lost a step for the leading teams in the championship of Italy, and this game they will be or not to be for the passage to the next round. I think that the victory of Barcelona is...
There are no chances for Roma at the Nou Camp. Barcelona is encouraged by winning Clasico,and entering this game with a great mood. Roma again lost a step for the leading teams in the championship of Italy, and this game they will be or not to be for the passage to the next round. I think that the victory of Barcelona is certain, the only question is what result.
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