The first playoff has arrived. Leverkusen's away game, if not decisive, is certainly very important for Roma, who are forced to score points to make up for Borisov's slip. The defeat against Bate has complicated the standings a lot: the Giallorossi are now in last place in group E, 2 points behind the Germans and Belarusians and 3 behind leaders Barcelona. Given and considering the unassailability of the Catalans (tonight engaged in Borisov), much of Roma's qualification will pass from the double confrontation with Bayer, irony of the fate that already executed Lazio in the August preliminaries.
“These will be two very important matches, in case of victory we would take a step forward towards the round of XNUMX – Garcia said in the press conference. – We are ambitious, we want to top the group and for this we will have to field everything we have, what we have done so far is obviously not enough".
And to say that Rome's European journey had started quite well. The draw against the European champions had been welcomed almost as a victory, but then came the Belarusian debacle and, consequently, the last place in the group. Nothing irremediable, mind you, but now the margin of error, if not eliminated, is at least reduced to the bone.
At the BayArena it will be necessary to achieve a result which, numbers in hand, is far from impossible. The Germans are distant relatives of those who, a couple of months ago, humiliated Lazio with a dry 3-0. Now they are navigating the mediocrity of the Bundesliga (7th place) as demonstrated by last Saturday's draw, a gray 0-0 in Hamburg.
“But the pressure will be all for them – commented Roger Schmidt, Bayer coach. – We know they are strong but also that Borisov's defeat may have left its aftermath. These two games will tell us who will have the best chance of going through." Pressure or not, this will certainly be a fundamental week for Roma. First the away game in Leverkusen, then Sunday's very competitive match in Florence which could even launch them into first place in the standings.
“It's true, but we'll only think about that starting tomorrow – confirmed Garcia. – Now we have to focus only on Bayer, a good team that plays at a high pace and has experience in the European field". Victory on German soil has been missing for 15 years (0-3 in Hamburg in 2000/01) and the only precedent at the BayArena is anything but happy (3-1 in 2004): a taboo that the Giallorossi will try to break by relying to Dzeko, owner again after almost a month.
The Bosnian will act as a lone striker with Salah and Gervinho in support, for the rest a typical formation with Szczesny in goal, Florenzi, Manolas, Castan and Digne in defense, Nainggolan, De Rossi and Pjanic in midfield. Schmidt will respond with his classic 4-4-2 with Leno in goal, Donati, Tah, Papadopoulos and Wendell in defence, Kampl, Kramer, Bender and Çalhanoglu in midfield, Bellarabi and Hernandez in attack.
There will be around 1.800 Roma fans, who will try to push the team on a very delicate night. Not to mention essential.
