Manchester City vs Roma – UEFA Champions League

Roma

Manchester City news:

As time passes so they revs up. Nevertheless still they have not reached the desired level of form and this mainly happens because of the major problems they have in defense. Against Hull they got in danger almost out of nowhere, because center-back Mangala was in a … tragic day (an own goal, a penalty). Thus, the in favor of them 2-0 turned to a draw 2-2 and they needed Dzeko (68 ‘) and Lampard (87’, scored in a third consecutive match) to lead the team to victory (4-2).

In the Champions League, Manchester City may lost to Bayern by a goal scored in 90 ‘(1-0), but the result was fair, as they had escaped earlier in many cases. “We lost in the end, in the details. Even if we could get a point, the pressure in view of the match against Roma would be the same. Last year too, if you remember, we started with a defeat and then we did 5 straight wins. This is what we’ll try to do now too, we can win Roma, although the game will be very difficult, “said Pellegrini initially in view of the current match.

“At the beginning of the season we had some problems in scoring, we scored only one goal in the home matches against Stoke and Chelsea, but it seems that we changed, we returned to our standard. Nevertheless the match against Roma requires great caution. It’s a good team, they have won the first 5 games they played since last year Rudi Garcia did a great job and has built a team with excellent technique and very quick” the Chilean coach added.

Goalkeeper Hart was left on the bench in the previous two matches (his place was taken by Caballero), but he is expected to return to the lineup against Roma. Striker Jovetic did not play, but he was trained normally yesterday and became available to coach. Key player Fernando (midfielder) and Nasri (winger) were out in the previous games and they remain unavailable. In fact, the Frenchman was subjected to surgery yesterday and will be out for about a month. Fernando revs up and next week he will be ready for Manchester City.

As for the lineup, it is a question whether Pellegrini will present the team with two strikers (Dzeko at top and Aguero behind him), as he did in most of the games so far, or will prefer a scheme similar to that in Munich, who played with one striker.

Roma news:

Roma struggled, but managed to prevail to Verona in “Stadio Olimpico” by the goals of Florenzi 75′ and Destro in 87′ and to do the “5 out of 5” in Serie A, one week before the top derby to Juventus in Turin. In their premiere of the group in Champions League they played fantastic football in Rome Italy, crashing CSKA Moscow 5-1 (4-0 at halftime). Their history in England is very poor, as in the last seven games in there at the level of Champions League they count one draw (1-1 to Arsenal in 2003) and six defeats, between them, is the heavy on by Manchester United 7-1 in 2007 .

“When the group’s draw took place, everyone had as written off. Now everyone count us and I’m proud of that. If we leave with a positive result in Manchester, we will make a major step towards qualification, but not decisive. Champions League’s matches themselves offer a great motivation to players. We must be patient to hit at the right moment. Manchester City, when they find spaces they speed up suddenly. We must have possession of the ball. We know that our work will not be easy, but we will do everything possible to make life difficult for Manchester City. We are not thinking about the derby against Juventus, because there are five days until then ” Rudi Garcia said.

Roma injuries

Stopper Astori, Castan, midfielders De Rossi, Strootman and Ucan and striker Borriello remain injured. Defender Balzaretti is unlisted. Winger Iturbe is back. Goalkeeper De Sanctis, who faces injury problems, will pass a test just before the match. If he does not prevent, his position under the posts will be taken by the 23 years old Polish Skorupski. Totti, Gervinho and Florenzi will start in the front line.

History : 

Manchester City vs Roma : The two teams have never met before.