When Roma were drawn against Real Madrid in December's Champions League last-16 draw in Nyon, fans were left fearing yet another hiding at the hands of European elite. Just reward for scraping a goal-less draw against BATE Borisov that was enough to see them qualify from Group E in second place with just six points.
Roma had made it through but they hardly deserved to: they won just one of their six group matches, were humbled 3-2 away at BATE and humiliated 6-1 at Barca. They qualified with a goal difference of -5 having conceding 16 times -- the most of any team ever to qualify for the knockout stages.
"Here come the monsters!" screamed the next day's Gazzetta Dello Sport, which was crestfallen about the UEFA co-efficient implications of not only facing the 10-time European Champions, but also Juventus being paired up with rampant Bayern Munich. It didn't help that both Italian sides also have the disadvantage of playing the home leg first.
Two days after the draw Roma were knocked out of the Coppa Italia on penalties by Serie B's Spezia and if expectations were low before that defeat, afterwards the only ambition anyone had for the Madrid tie was not to be embarrassed like they had been at Barca.
Now there is a whiff of optimism and hope in the air. After having replaced the doomed Rudi Garcia in January, Luciano Spalletti has turned Roma's league form around, putting them back on course in Serie A with four straight wins. Now he has the somewhat trickier task of stopping Zinedine Zidane's star-spangled outfit and continuing their stay in the Champions League.
Spalletti was of course in charge the time these two last met in the competition when his flamboyant Roma side, led by pioneering false nine Francesco Totti, came back from an early Raul goal to edge a dramatic encounter 2-1 in Rome before outplaying Madrid on their own patch and beating them by the same scoreline.
It was Spalletti's classic Roma team. They were the closest challengers to Inter Milan's post-calciopoli dominance and were only knocked out of the Champions League by that year's eventual winners Manchester United. He'll need to channel that -- and not the team that was humbled 7-1 by United the previous season -- if he's to have any chance on Wednesday night.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice during that 2007 mauling and another against Roma the following year -- the Madrid star comes into the match in blistering form having scored seven goals in his last five games. While you can't stop a player like Ronaldo with tight marking alone, you can work to stop his supply and that's what it looks like Spalletti will try to do, jamming up the midfield so Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Isco can't get the ball out to their star man.
Daniele De Rossi is available after recovering from a calf injury at the last minute so he could feature in a back three; however, it seems more likely that Spalletti will settle for a four-man defence, with the regular central pairing of Kostas Manolas and Antonio Rudiger teaming up with Alessandro Florenzi and Erwin Zukanovic on the flanks. Florenzi impressed against Neymar in their 1-1 group stage opener against Barca in September but has been below par of late; Ronaldo will surely target him.
Seydou Keita, Miralem Pjanic and Radja Nainggolan will stay compact in the middle of the park, with Diego Perotti, who has already impressed with his pressing, playing in behind Edin Dzeko and Mohamed Salah. Spalletti is hoping Salah's pace can exploit the defensive weakness left in Pepe's and Marcelo's absence, although the latter will travel to Rome after a miraculous recovery from dislocating his right shoulder against Granada just over a week ago.
Roma will at least be able to count on a crowd this time round, with 50,000 expected at the Olimpico despite eye-watering prices of €40-60 to sit miles back behind the goal in the Curvas Sud and Nord and even higher prices elsewhere in the ground. But with the ultras and regular fans from the Curva Sud boycotting homes games over increased security measures others have snapped up the tickets, meaning that while the numbers will be higher, the noise levels won't be.
The subdued crowd that will fill those spaces might not satisfy Spalletti, who has repeatedly stated how much his team miss the once fiery support offered by the Curva Sud, but will it be enough to inspire Roma to a positive result?
Source : espn.co.uk
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