AS Roma vs FC Barcelona Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

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Joel Amorim Sep 15, 2015 @ 12:50 am

Next Wednesday, 16th of September 2015, the current Spanish and European champions, Barcelona, will travel to Rome to measure forces with AS Roma at Stadio Olimpico for the opening match of the UEFA Champions League group stage.

Barcelona were forced to put in some extra work during their last Saturday’s visit to Vicente Calderón. Atlético Madrid even scored first by Fernando Torres, but a flawlessly scored free-kick from Neymar and a superb effort from Lionel Messi gave the Catalan team a deserved win.

Barcelona are already at the top of La Liga' table, with nine points from three matches and are the only team that has won all their league matches so far.

Next Wednesday’s match at the Italian capital city will be fairly special for the Asturian manager Luis Enrique, who had a brief stint with AS Roma before returning to Spain to assume Celta de Vigo’s head coach role.

The last time Barcelona visited Rome for a UEFA Champions League was back in 2002, but the Catalan side is not certainly interested in remembering such a match. Barça lost 3-0, but still managed to win their group, while AS Roma ended up being eliminated.

Both sides measured forces in a pre-season match at Camp Nou last month, which Barcelona easily won by 3-0.

Claudio Bravo and Dani Alves will miss the match due to injury, while Thomas Vermaelen is still in doubt after being forced to abandon last weekend’s match with an alleged calf problem.

As for AS Roma, the Italian team are currently on a very positive run at Serie A after a somehow disappointing 1-1 draw at Verona in the opening day of the new season.

Last weekend, AS Roma experienced an unexpected difficulty during their travel to Frosinone, but ended up winning the match by 2-0, with goals from Iago Falque and Juan Iturbe.

The talented Bosnian midfielder Miralem Pjanic will most certainly miss the clash against Barcelona because of injury.

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