Judgment day. Against Bate Borisov (20.45 pm) Roma are playing a big slice of their season: leaving the Champions League, in fact, would represent an undeniable failure and this regardless of the continuation of the championship. At stake then, in addition to sporting merits, there is also money (a lot) and international prestige, topics that arouse the American owners and President Pallotta a lot. In short, tonight's match can't be wrong for any reason.
“This match is like a derby, you don't play, you win – Garcia's speech. – We will not make calculations of any kind, 11 hungry wolves will go on the field”. Strong words, testifying to the delicacy of the event, a real inside or outside from all points of view. In the event of a flop, in fact, many will pay, coach and sports director above all but also various players. "If Garcia sinks, we all sink" Sabatini explained immediately after the draw in Turin, a phrase that best captures the precariousness of the Giallorossi world.
In short, all "clinging" to the French technician, in the hope that, this time, he will be able to pilot the ship without any accidents of any kind. The occasion is one of the greedy ones: a match point for the round of 16 against the most affordable opponent of the group, moreover at home. Enviable condition for those who have the worst defense in the Champions League (1 goals conceded, 5 more than Maccabi Tel Aviv) and only XNUMX points in the standings: in other groups there are teams already eliminated despite a better score. But fate wanted to give the Giallorossi another chance, the last one to keep the qualification dream alive.
But woe to underestimating Bate, who was already able to beat Roma in the Borisov match on 29 September. The Belarusians have only one point less in the standings and therefore arrive in the capital to play for the round of 5. Bayer Leverkusen is involved between the two litigants, paired at XNUMX like the Giallorossi (but they are ahead in direct matches) and forced to beat Barcelona to hope for a chance.
“Garcia talks about 11 wolves? It doesn't matter, we will have the players… – Yermakovich's barb. – We know they are very strong but also that they have weaknesses and we know them”. Roma find Salah and Gervinho, the former absent from the derby on 8 November, the latter recovered despite the muscle problems in Turin. Logical that the two are not in top form but also that Garcia has done everything to have them back with him: without them, in fact, the team is practically ticked.
In any case, the coach will not risk them both, at least not from the start. Salah will take the field from the first minute with Dzeko and Florenzi, Gervinho will start from the bench, possibly ready to take over during the match. For the rest, the 4-3-3 confirmed with Szczesny in goal, Maicon, Manolas, Castan (favorite over Rudiger) and Digne in defence, Pjanic, De Rossi and Nainggolan in midfield. No news for Bate Borisov, who will line up with the usual 4-2-3-1: Chernik in goal, Zhavnerchik, Polyakov, Milunovic and Mladenovic in defence, Aleksandr Volodko and Nikolic in midfield, Rios, Hleb and Maksim Volodko in the frontline , Mozolevski up front.
