Roma travel to Cagliari today looking for a first win in Sardinia for over 18 years and knowing that a point would be enough to guarantee them at least a place in the Champions League preliminary rounds.

Rudi Garcia’s side lie second in Serie A on 73 points, eight behind champions Juventus and still with an outside chance of their first league title since 2001. Never before have they had so many points after 31 games.

Even more important for the club, however, is a place in the Champions League after what will be three seasons without European football.

Their last appearance was an embarrassing 2-1 aggregate defeat by Slovan Bratislava in the Europa League preliminary rounds at the start of the 2011-12 campaign.

There followed two poor seasons under Luis Enrique, Zdenek Zeman and Aurelio Andeazzoli which coincided with a group of US entrepreneurs taking over the club.

It culminated in a painful Italian Cup final loss to local rivals Lazio which brought about a full-scale rebellion among fans, who pelted players with abuse on their return to training at the start of the season.

“When I first arrived here I understood what the situation was, and that we needed to win in order to get out of that spiral,” Frenchman Garcia told reporters yesterday.

“I realised it was a difficult place to work, but I like a challenge.

“We will be in the Champions League and we want to be in there directly. This means finishing either first or second. For first place we don’t have our destiny in our hands, but we do for second.”

Roma are nine points ahead of third-placed Napoli, who occupy the final Champions League place, and a massive 21 points clear of Fiorentina in fourth with seven games remaining.

A draw against Cagliari would be enough to guarantee a place in the top three even if Fiorentina beat injury-hit Udinese in Florence as there would be a 19-point gap between the sides with 18 left to play for.

Qualifying for the Champions League would give Roma a better chance of keeping midfielder Miralem Pjanic from a potential transfer to big-spending PSG.

Roma, whose last win at Cagliari came in 1995, will be favourites today although their opponents’ seven wins this season have all come at their dilapidated Sant’Elia stadium, which is being redeveloped and has a capacity of only 5,000 spectators.

Roma’s future looks bright following Garcia’s stunning opening season and plans for a new 50,000-capacity stadium that could be opened within two years.

“When I first arrived, I asked for faith, to be allowed to prove that I can do well. Now the fans see a united team that never gives up,” Garcia said.

Serie A

Chievo 0
Verona 1
Toni 65;

HT: 0-0. Att: 10,000.

Inter 2
Icardi 6, 63;
Bologna 2
Pazienza 35; Kone 73;

HT: 1-1. Att: 44,000.
Missed penalty: Milito (INT) 84.

  P W D L F A Pts
Juventus 31 26 3 2 67 22 81
Roma 31 22 7 2 62 17 73
Napoli 31 19 7 5 59 32 64
Fiorentina 31 15 7 9 49 33 52
Inter 32 12 14 6 51 35 50
Parma 31 12 11 8 51 41 47
Atalanta 31 14 4 13 37 39 46
Verona 32 14 4 14 47 52 46
Lazio 31 12 9 10 40 40 45
Torino 31 11 9 11 45 40 42
Milan 31 11 9 11 47 43 42
Sampdoria 31 11 8 12 40 43 41
Genoa 31 10 9 12 34 39 39
Udinese 31 11 5 15 34 42 38
Cagliari 31 7 11 13 29 41 32
Chievo 32 7 6 19 26 47 27
Bologna 32 5 12 15 26 50 27
Livorno 31 6 7 18 34 58 25
Sassuolo 31 5 6 20 29 61 21
Catania 31 4 8 19 23 55 20

Playing today – 15.00
Atalanta vs Sassuolo
Cagliari vs Roma
Catania vs Torino
Fiorentina vs Udinese
Lazio vs Sampdoria - 12.30
Parma vs Napoli - 20.45

Tomorrow
Juventus vs Livorno - 19.00
Genoa vs Milan - 21.00

Next fixtures
Saturday: 18.00 Sassuolo vs Cagliari; 20.45 Roma vs Atalanta.
Sunday: 12.30 Bologna vs Parma. 15.00 Livorno vs Chievo; Napoli vs Lazio; Sampdoria vs Inter; Torino vs Genoa; Verona vs Fiorentina. 20.45 Milan vs Catania.
Monday: 20,45 Udinese vs Juventus.

Serie B
Brescia vs Pescara - 3-0
Carpi vs Trapani - 3-2
Cittadella vs Siena - 1-0
Juve Stabia vs Varese - 2-4
Novara vs Crotone - 1-1
Reggina vs Latina - 0-1
Spezia vs Padova - 2-2
Ternana vs Cesena - 0-2
Lanciano vs Modena - 1-3

Playing today
Bari vs Empoli - 12.30

Standings: Palermo 66; Empoli 53; Cesena 52; Crotone, Latina 51; Trapani 49; Siena, Lanciano, Avellino 48; Modena, Pescara, Spezia 45; Brescia, Varese, Carpi 43; Ternana 41; Bari 40; Novara 36; Cittadella 32; Padova 31; Reggina 27; Juve Stabia 16.

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