Three points to not complicate life. After the debut with Barcelona, in which an almost unexpected point arrived, Roma are back to compete on the Champions League stage. Compared to two weeks ago, the opponent is very different but woe to take him lightly. If the Giallorossi want to get through the group and pass through to the round of 20.45, they must necessarily score points against Bate Borisov, both tonight in Belarus (at 9pm) and in the home return on XNUMX December.
“We'll have to be very careful, they're used to playing in Europe – warned Garcia, on his 100th as Roma coach. – The environment will then be very hot, in a stadium that seems quite beautiful to me. But we arrive with great ambitions: we have to play our best every game to go through".
In a normal moment, the Giallorossi would have had no problems: Bate Borisov was too weak to worry them. But this is a phase of great emergency at Roma, as evidenced by the number of players called up (16!), which to define as small is too little. To the absences of Dzeko, Keita, Totti and Rudiger was added that of Iago Falque, who stopped in the finishing line of Trigoria. In short, the troubles mainly concern the attack reduced to only Gervinho, Iturbe and Salah, but the defense and midfield are not exempt either.
“I will have a less rich squad than usual – commented Garcia. – We will have to be united, all those who play will have to do more to achieve a positive result”. In Borisov it will be a rather reworked 4-3-3, with De Sanctis in goal (Szczesny, despite being among the squad, is not yet at his best), Florenzi, Manolas, De Rossi and Digne in defense, Vainqueur, Nainggolan and Pjanic in midfield, Gervinho, Iturbe and Salah in attack.
“Roma is a great team, whoever plays will be able to replace the absent ones – explained Aleksandr Yermakovich, coach of Bate Borisov. – We will have to be careful, be good, lucky and have the support of our fans: without one of these components it would be very difficult to achieve a result". The Belarusians, firmly in first place in the championship, are forced to get a result in order not to compromise, perhaps definitively, their European path (1-4 against Bayer Leverkusen on the first day).
Yermakovich will attempt the feat with a chameleonic 4-3-3: in the defensive phase, in fact, he will transform into a 4-5-1. In defense, in front of Chernik, Polyakov, Dubra, Milunovic and Mladenovic will act, in midfield Volodko, Aleksievich and the former Arsenal Hleb, the real star of the team. In attack trident Stasevich-Signevich-Gordeichuk, with the task of upsetting the Giallorossi defense.
