Real Madrid vs AS Roma

UCL 2018-19 – Real Madrid vs AS Roma Match Preview

3 time defending Champions of Europe Real Madrid will be looking for their 4th straight UCL trophy as they play their first Champions League match in post Ronaldo era! Madrid are coming off their first droppage of points at Bilbao as they host an out of form Roma side who are also coming off a draw during the weekend where they blew a 2-0 lead to Chievo. Madrid are massively favoured and rightly so but can former semi finalists Roma find some form and make it a competitive match at the Bernabeu?

Key Facts

Real Madrid have only lost 1 of their last 22 UCL Matches. 17W 4D 1L.

Real Madrid have been showing great goal scoring form this season with 11 goals in 4 games. They’ve scored 4 goals in two games already

Karim Benzema is Real’s top scorer with 4, Bale follows up 3. These two are Madrid’s main danger men this season

Surprisingly, Real don’t have a winning record against Roma at home in the previous 5 meetings. 2W 2L 1D. Not a fact that affects this match but a fun one.

Roma have only won one game this season that being the opening game of the season at Torino. They have a 1W 2D 1L record in Serie A and sit 9th.

Roma have conceded 7 goals in their previous 3 games (2+ in all of those)

Although Roma made the Semi Final last season, their away form was shocking. They’ve not won in 5 straight away european games losing 4 and conceded 16 in that span. Barca put 4 past them, Liverpool put 5 past them.

No Roma player has scored more than 1 goal this season. Edin Dzeko is their most dangerous man however (8 goals in UCL campaign last season).

Team News

Real Madrid: Great news for Madrid are that there are no injuries to report. However, we could see some changes from the weekends team. Firstly, Casemiro should slot back in midfield over Ceballos who started over him against Bilbao and Casemiro is expected to play alongside Modric and Kroos in the midfield. Lopetegui has been using 4-3-3 in the last 2 games and is expected to do so here. Furthermore, Isco has been coming off the bench for 2 games straight behind Asensio but his goal during the weekend will give Lopetegui a selection headache. Obviously Bale and Benzema will start due to their great form so it’s between Asensio and Isco to complete the front 3. At the back there are no worries meanwhile in goal there’s competition between Courtois and Navas. It depends on who the coach prefers. Either way they will have a solid keeper starting.

AS Roma: Roma only have one serious injury and that’s Javier Pastore otherwise di Francesco has a fully fit squad. Don’t expect too many changes but there are some key names that were left out of the starting line-up during the weekend like de Rossi and Fazio against Chievo therefore both could make a start here. We can expect Roma to take a more defensive approach given the quality of their opponents and its necessary that they fix their defensive troubles against European Giants, just look at what Barca and Liverpool did to them when they went to their stadiums last season.

Betting Tips and Predictions

Well we are looking at a match that could’ve been the UCL final that season if not for Liverpool. However, the form and squad difference as a whole is pretty big. Even without Ronaldo, Real Madrid are one of the best teams in Europe if not the best and will compete to win this trophy. Roma have definitely seemed to have weakened this season especially with Nainggolan’s departure. They’ve been poor defensively recently and they just can’t seem to win a game ever since their opening day win at Torino. Carrying that type of form to Bernabeu is a really bad sign for Roma. Roma were terrible against European giants defensively away from home last season which is why we’re going to back Madrid’s -1.5 AH at 1.90 and also Madrid’s over 2.5 goals at 1.90. We simply do not trust Roma’s backline against Madrid’s fantastic attack especially when they can’t hold off teams like Chievo and Atalanta. Our prediction is 3-1 win for the European champions! Benzema will get on the scoresheet

Match Odds (TonyBet)

Real Madrid Win – 1.34

Draw – 5.85

AS Roma Win – 9.00

KICK OFF – 19th September 2018 – 8pm UK Time