AS Roma will face FC Porto at Olimpico Stadium, in Rome, in the Champions League 1/8-Finals. AS Roma against FC Porto is always the match with big interest, especially during this season. Review our thoughts on this match here below.
AS Roma
AS Roma this year is fighting among strongest Italian clubs like Lazio, AC Milan, Inter, Napoli and Juventus. Now in the Serie A Roma stands at 4th position with only 1 loss at home. Roma left the group in Champions League at second place where they played against Real Madrid. As they reached the 1/8 finals, this is already a sign that they worth and strong team.
However, Roma is facing very big troubles, because leaders are injured at this moment and will not help the team. Robin Olsen, K. Manolas, Diego Perotti, C. Under and P. Schick will miss the match due to injuries.
This season Roma is great at shooting from direct free kicks, attacking set pieces and aerial duels. Very likely that they will play possessional football with short passes, control the game on opposition’s half, moreover, play with width and non-aggressive. However, they are facing problems at defending against attacks down the wings, protecting the lead and stopping opponents from creating chances.
FC Porto
FC Porto is looking great this season as well, however, their gameplay is not very confident and sometimes very unpredictable. They finished the group stage of Champions League in the first place without any losses, however, some matches were very lucky for them. Even match without possession and control of the game, with 3 shots in goal, they were able to win with 3:2 result. It is either luck or a fantastic realization of all the moments and the right tactic. FC Porto now stands at the 1st place of Primeira Liga, they have the best defense of the league, as conceded only 12 goals per 21 match.
Unfortunately, the next match will be without two great attackers M. Marega and V. Aboubakar, these two involved to 17 goals together. From their absence, the quality of the attack and the number of goals scored may suffer. All other important persons of the team will be on the field and will show their maximum.
Portuguese are great at attacking set pieces, creating scoring chances, aerial duels, defending set pieces and stealing the ball from the opposition. Very likely that Porto will play on their own half, wait for the possibility to counter-attack and play non-aggressive football.
H2H
These teams played in Champions League qualification Final at the beginning of 2016/17 season. Of course, the teams have changed a lot since that time, but at that time Porto was a stronger team with 4:1 result in aggregate.