Next Wednesday, 10th of December 2014, the Italian powerhouse of AS Roma will measure forces with the English champions, Manchester City, at the overwhelming Stadio Olimpico for the last match of the UEFA Champions League’s group stage, on a clash where the winner takes it all and walks through to the next round of the competition.

AS Roma had a night to forget over the weekend when they entertained a super motivated Sassuolo at the Italian capital city. The Lupi didn’t manage to take advantage from Juventus’ slip-up and walked away with nothing better than a 2-2 draw against a Sassuolo side that probably deserved more than the single point they achieved. The visitors took advantage of AS Roma’s clamorous defensive mistakes, De Sanctis included, and, on the 18th minute of the first-half, they were already leading the score by 2-0 with two goals by the Italian international Simone Zaza. Things got even worse for Roma when De Rossi was sent off early on the second-half but in the end they still managed to achieve what one may consider a lucky draw, thanks to two goals by Ljajic. The Serbian footballer put up another vintage performance but his second goal was apparently on offside.

Rudi Garcia’s boys looked fairly nervous last Saturday, quite probably because their minds were already set on the upcoming match against Manchester City that will most certainly be far from easy. When both sides met at the Etihad Ground back in September, the match ended in 1-1 draw but, overall, the Italian team looked far superior on almost every aspect of the game.

For the clash against the Citizens, Rudi Garcia will probably still not be able to rely on the contribution of Balzaretti, Torosidis and Castan, all currently sidelined due to injury.

As for Manchester City, the current English champions are probably enjoying their best moment of the season so far, as they’ve managed to win their last five official matches. Their impressive win over Bayern Munich last month was the turning point at the team’s inconsistent performances and, since then, the Citizens appear to be twice as confident. Last weekend, Manuel Pellegrini’s men overcame Everton at home by a narrow margin, 1-0, thanks to a Yaya Touré’s goal from the penalty spot still in the first-half. The match against the Toffees, however, left a sour taste in Pellegrini’s mouth since he lost the team’s most influential player ,Sergio Aguero, who will surely not be involved on the decisive Champions league clash against Everton.

To sum things up, everything is apparently in place for an outstanding match between two major European teams, although, by playing at home, AS Roma enjoys from a slight favouritism.

Roma

Stats: W-3 L-0 D-2

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Manchester City

Stats: W-5 L-0 D-0

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Possible Line-ups

Roma (4-3-3) - De Sanctis - Florenzi - Manolas - Astori - Holebas - De Rossi - Pjanic - Nainggolan - Gervinho - Totti - Ljajic

Manchester City (4-4-1-1) – Hart - Zabaleta - Mangala - Demichelis - Clichy - Fernando - Touré - Navas - Milner - Nasri -  Dzeko

Prediction

Roma 1 Manchester City 1