Tuesday Champions League- Liverpool vs AS Roma Preview
April 24th 2018 19:45 – Anfield
Recent Form (All Competitions)
Liverpool: WDWWD
AS Roma: LWDWW
At the start of the season, the thought of Liverpool or Roma winning the Champions League was one only considered by die-hard fans. Yet the two now go head-to-head over two legs with a place in the final up for grabs. Adding to the dynamic of the game is Mo Salah facing his former club, the Egyptian International left Rome for Merseyside last summer.
After disposing of Manchester City in the quarter-finals, Liverpool have the Italians to overcome to make the final in Kiev. Defensive frailties that were so prominent earlier in the season seemed to be have largely fixed by Coach Jurgen Klopp without compromising their attack. They won their knockout ties with Porto and Man City by an aggregate of 10-1. Indeed, they’ve netted at least twice in 11 of their last 12 at Anfield, including 11 goals in the last three games.
The likes of Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane have been superb this season, but they have been surpassed by former Roma man Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian has been outstanding and has taken Liverpool from a good team into one that can contest the latter stages of the Champions League. Eight goals in the competition means he and strike partner Firmino are joint-second in the Champions League scoring charts with Mane just a solitary goal behind the pair.
In the quarter-finals Roma made one of the best comebacks in the history of the Champions League, having lost their first leg tie 4-1 to the mighty Barcelona they performed the ‘Miracle of Rome’ to secure a 3-0 victory and progress on the away goals rule.
Eusebio Di Francesco has endured a season of peaks and troughs in his first season as coach in the Italian capital; surprise winners of their group which included Chelsea and Atletico Madrid, they struggled to get past Shakhtar Donetsk in the round of 16.
Playing the first leg away from home is something Di Francesco will be more than happy with, as their best results in Europe have come in Rome. On the road they have recorded one win, one draw and three losses with their sole victory (2-1) coming at Azerbaijani minnows Qarabag. In fact, that remains their only victory in 13 Champions League road trips since 2014/15. They have conceded 11 times across their other four away games this season and it has been 27 away matches in this competition since their last clean sheet. Facing Liverpool’s front three, the Romans will have to have their tactics spot on to keep themselves in the tie.
Prediction:
The teams have met five times previously in Europe (including the memorable 1984 European Cup Final in Rome which Liverpool won on penalties) with the English side holding a slender head-to-head advantage.
A combination of Liverpool’s front three and Roma’s poor away makes the home win with over 2.5 goals look tempting.
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