MANCHESTER City must achieve a positive result in Rome if they are to have any chance of qualifying for the Champions League knockout stages. Mark O’Haire (@MarkOHaire) assesses their chances.
Roma v Manchester City | Wednesday 19.45 | Sky Sports 5
A win for either side in the Italian capital would be enough to secure a spot in the Last 16 of the Champions League. But it’s Roma (6/4 Coral) who deserve maximum respect in the Match Odds market.
Rudi Garcia’s men have proved almost unstoppable at the Stadio Olimpico under the Frenchman tutelage. Since joining the Giallorossi for the beginning of last season, Roma have recorded a stunning W26-D4-L2 record in front of their home fans.
Yes, Bayern Munich destroyed the capital club in their last home Champions League fixture but the dominant Germans also ran the show with 10 men against Manchester City in their most recent continental outing.
City are severely weakened by the absence of superstar striker Sergio Aguero whilst Yaya Toure misses the trip through suspension. There’s also doubts surrounding the fitness of skipper Vincent Kompany and magician David Silva – the Citizens could be without arguably their four key performers and the spine of their side.
Meanwhile, Roma rested a handful of their best players on Saturday with a view to Wednesday’s showdown – they were poor in a 2-2 draw against Sassuolo but all eyes were on this Stadio Olimpico duel.
With Manuel Pellegrini’s visitors conceding at least twice in eight of their last 10 Champions League games and having lost seven of their previous 12 road trips in Europe’s premier competition, it’s hard to find any confidence in backing City at 2/1 with BetVicor.
Bet365’s 11/10 on the Giallorossi scoring Over 1.5 Goals deserves plenty of respect but we’ll take the slightly bigger price and back Roma to win the match at 6/4 with Coral.
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Roma v Manchester City – Roma to win (6/4 Coral)
