Roma With Huge Task in Champions League

Champions League | Preview

10/04/18

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The 2017/18 UEFA Champions League has reached the second leg of the quarter finals and four teams will feel they have already done enough to secure a semi-final place.

One of those teams is Barcelona and they meet Roma on Tuesday night at the Stadio Olimpico with a 4-1 advantage from the first leg. Even a 2-0 defeat would still be good enough for Lionel Messi and co to progress to the semi-final.

Roma have never reached the semi-final of the Champions League in its current format, despite several attempts. The best they have done is reach the quarter-final and in both ties, they were comfortably beaten by Manchester United.

Roma come into this match having suffered a setback in their bid to finish in the top four of Serie A as they were defeated 2-0 on home soil by Fiorentina on Saturday. Coupled with the defeat to Barcelona in the first leg of this tie and the 1-1 draw at Bologna, Roma have failed to win their last three games.

Home form has been a mixed bag of late, with three wins, one draw and five defeats from their last nine matches in the Italian capital. There have been victories over Benevento, Torino and Shakhtar Donetsk and defeats against Sampdoria, AC Milan, Torino, Atalanta and Fiorentina.

However, Roma remain undefeated at home in the Champions League this season, having won three and drawn one of their four matches. The draw came at home against Atletico Madrid and they also enjoyed an excellent 3-0 win over Chelsea, a result which would be good enough to see them progress in this tie.

Barcelona moved one step closer to sealing the La Liga title on the weekend as a Lionel Messi hattrick helped them on their way to a 3-1 win over Leganes at the Camp Nou.

That win means it is now nineteen games without defeat for Barcelona and they have faced some tricky matches during that run against Valencia, Chelsea, Atletico Madrid and Sevilla. There seems no stopping Barcelona now and they could break several records this season, especially at home.

Trends show Barcelona have lost just one competitive match away from home this season and that came at the hands of local rivals Espanyol in the Copa del Rey. Barcelona have drawn three of their last four away matches in all competitions and have scored at last one goal in each of their last eight.

Team news and Roma are still without the injured right-back Rick Karsdorp but the major doubt is Raja Nainggolan, who could miss the game due to injury.

Barcelona will travel without the injured duo of Lucas Digne and Sergi Samper, while central midfielder Sergio Busquets is a doubt. Phillipe Coutinho is ineligible having played in the competition for Liverpool.

Roma are yet to concede a goal at home in the Champions League this season but that could be about to change. They need to attack Barcelona hard if they are to win this game and progress and that could leave them open at the back, resulting in a draw with both teams scoring.