UEFA Champions League 2018/19: Real Madrid v AS Roma

UEFA Champions League 2018/19: Real Madrid v AS Roma - Match Preview

Real Madrid starts the defense of their Champions League title, a trophy they've won a record 13 times, with a home match against AS Roma. Los Blancos can be perceived to be weaker than the all-conquering team that ruled Europe for the past three years.

Shortly after winning their third Champions League title on the trot iconic manager Zinedine Zidane stepped down and the undisputed king of the UCL Cristiano Ronaldo joining Juventus over the summer. A chink in their armor of supremacy in Europe is surely present as can be read from the fact that they lost the UEFA Supercup crown to fierce rivals.

Putting that debut loss behind them Julen Lopetegui's white army has started off positively in La Liga winning 3, drawing 1 and gathering 10 points in the progress. Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema have struck top form early on this season and will be looking to extend their exploits into the Champions League tonight.

Roma had one of their best ever run in the Champions League last time around reaching the semi-finals overcoming strong favorites Barcelona in the quarterfinals. Their dramatic comeback at home overturning a 4-1 deficit against Barcelona was one of the fairytale stories of last season.

All that seems a distant time ago as they have had an abysmal start to their Serie A campaign winning only one of their opening four matches.

Real Madrid v AS Roma: Prediction

Both teams have a history of playing out high scoring matches. It looks to be a mouthwatering tie at the Santiago Bernabéu. But you have to a fool to bet against Real Madrid in a Champions League tie. My prediction is that Madrid are going to do what they do best, run havoc in the Champions League.

Real Madrid 4-1 AS Roma (Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema to get a brace apiece)

Real Madrid v AS Roma: Team News

Both teams do not have any major injury worries ahead of their Champions League opener. Real Madrid is still without Jesus Vallejo. Roma will be without Javier Pastore, who picked up an injury over the weekend. And they are without Ante Coric. No suspensions for this match for either side.
But it is interesting to note the Julen Lopetegui has fielded a different XI In all his 5 matches as Real Madrid manager. So it will be a question of who will be given a nod and who will be shown the bench. For Roma, the starting XI looks to be pretty straightforward.

Real Madrid v AS Roma: Predicted XI
Real Madrid: Courtois, Marcelo, Ramos, Varane, Carvajal; Modric, Casemiro, Kroos; Asensio, Benzema, Bale

Roma: Olsen; Florenzi, Manolas, Juan Jesus, Kolarov; Pellegrini, N'Zonzi, Cristante; Under, Dzeko, El Shaarawy

Real Madrid v AS Roma: Match Details

Date : 20/09/18

Time : 12.30 a.m (IST)

Venue : Santiago Bernabéu

Comments

AS Roma Announce their squad for the 2018 International Champions Cup

Source: amazonaws.com Last season Champions League quarterfinalists AS Roma have announced their squad for the upcoming International Champions Cup. Eusebio Di Francesco has added a breath of fresh new talents into the squad with 21-year Ante Coric, 19-year old Justin Kluivert, 18-year old Nicolo Zaniolo, 18-year old William Bianda and 21-year old Daniel Fuzato along with the experienced campaigners like Ivan Marcano, Antonio Mirante, Javier Pastore, Davide Santon and Robin Olsen joining the side. While key players of the past few seasons like Radja Nainggolan and Alisson Becker along with the second keeper Lukas Skorupski, Marco Tumminello and Arturo Calabresi have left the club. Goalkeepers Antonio Mirante, Daniel Fuzato, Matteo Cardinali Defenders Rick Karsdorp, Luca Pellegrini, Juan Jesus, Aleksandar Kolarov, Ivan Marcano, Davide Santon, Federico Fazio, Alessandro Florenzi, Kostas Manolas, William Bianda Midfielders Bryan Cristante, Kevin Strootman, Lorenzo Pe...

France squad for the upcoming UEFA Nations League fixtures

The World Cup winners have announced their squad for the upcoming UEFA Nations Cup against Germany and the Netherlands. France will be looking to continue with their positive start to the inaugural UEFA Nations Cup (source: Newsclick) Anthony Martial is the only big name missing from the French squad. Goalkeepers: Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur), Steve Mandanda (Marseille), Alphonse Areola (Paris Saint-Germain) Defenders: Djibril Sidibe (AS Monaco), Benjamin Pavard (VfB Stuttgart), Raphael Varane (Real Madrid), Presnel Kimpembe (Paris Saint-Germain), Lucas Hernandez (Atletico Madrid), Lucas Digne (Everton), Kurt Zouma (Everton), Mamadou Sakho (Crystal Palace) Midfielders: Paul Pogba (Manchester United), N'Golo Kante (Chelsea), Blaise Matuidi (Juventus), Steven N'Zonzi (Roma), Tanguy Ndombele (Lyon) Attackers: Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain), Olivier Giroud (Chelsea), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Ousmane Dembele (FC Barcelona...

Aleksandr Golovin joins AS Monaco

Source: AS Monaco Twitter Aleksandr Golovin has decided to join AS Monaco for an undisclosed fee, reportedly in the region of 27 million Euros, accepting a 5-year deal with the Ligue 1 side. Golovin joins the 2016/17 Ligue 1 champions amid heavy speculations linking him to the Premier League with Manchester United and Chelsea favourites to sign the 22-year old at one point of time. The Russian has been one of the finds of the 2018 World Cup, with the 22-year old helping Russia qualify to the quarterfinals, scoring 1 wonderful free-kick and assisting 2 goals in the tournament. The 22-year old joins the Mediterranean coastal line club after 4 years with CSKA Moscow, making more than 81 appearances and scoring 9 goals for the Russian club.

India announce 22-man squad to face China in their first ever international friendly

India has announced a strong 22-man squad to face China on the 13th in their first ever International Friendly meeting on Saturday India and China have faced off against each other 17 times and the Chinese have been victorious on 12 occasions with the rest ending as draws. The last time both the teams met was in 1997 at Kochi in the Nehru Cup and ended with the Red Dragons winning 2-1 The only major omission from the Indian squad is that of striker Balwant Singh who was denied Chinese visa after finding that his passport will expire in 6 months. Indian Squad Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Amrinder Singh, Karanjit Singh Defenders: Pritam Kotal, Sarthak Golui, Sandesh Jhingan, Anas Edathodika, Salam Ranjan Singh, Subashish Bose, Narayan Das Midfielders: Udanta Singh, Nikhil Poojary, Pronoy Halder, Rowlin Borges, Anirudh Thapa, Vinit Rai, Halicharan Narzary, Ashique Kuruniyan Forwards: Sunil Chhetri, Jeje Lalpekhlua, Sumeet Passi, Farukh Choudhary

Fulham signs Andre Schurrle on 2-year long loan deal

Source: http://a3.espncdn.com Fulham has signed former Chelsea winger Andre Schurrle from Borussia Dortmund on a 2-year long loan deal. The 27-year old former Premier League winner with Chelsea player will join the likes of Terry Ablade, Maxime Le Marchand, Jean Seri and Fabri as the fifth new signing at the Craven Cottage. The 2014 World Cup winner has had a relatively poor outing last season as the German found it hard to break into the first team mould of the Die Schwarzgelben only making 12 competitive starts for the club scoring a just a single goal and registering only 4 assist.

FOOTY BLAZE

Search This Blog