Roma were off to an uninspiring start in Serie A this season as they struggled to salvage a 1-1 away draw with Verona last month but then the capital team produced a better performance in a 2-1 home success over Juventus.
Last Saturday, Rudi Garcia’s men found little, if any, difficulty in beating newcomers Frosinone 2-0 away to stay unbeaten and remain within sights of early pace-setters Inter.
Tonight, however, it will be a totally different story as Roma need to be on top of their game as they host European champions Barcelona at the Olimpico in the Champions League group stage.
This fixture marks the return of Luis Enrique to the club he steered to the seventh place in the 2011/12 Serie A.
On paper, Barcelona should top Group E but the remaining qualifying spot is up for grabs with Roma and Bayer Leverkusen starting favourites ahead of BATE Borisov, of Belarus.
So, any points that Roma might collect against Barca today should be considered a bonus.
Roma finished runners-up to Juventus in each of the past two years but last season they collected no fewer than 15 points less compared to the previous term.
This is Roma’s second successive Champions League participation and Garcia should see that his players have learnt from the mistakes of the past particularly in their failure to make home soil count.
Last season, Roma finished in a disappointing third place in Group E despite an encouraging start to their European campaign (four points in their first two outings).
In the Europa League, Roma were knocked out by fellow Italians Fiorentina in the round of 16.
Clearly, Roma’s three upsets in five home fixtures in Europe last season – against Bayern Munich (1-7), Manchester City (0-2) and Fiorentina (0-3) – hindered their progress on the continent.
Tonight’s clash against the mighty Catalans represents a perfect setting for Roma to prove they have what it takes to make it into the knock-out stages this year.
In recent years, Barcelona did not enjoy a favourable record away at Serie A opponents.
In fact, they have won only once (3-2 vs Milan in the 2011/12 group stage) from their last six matches in Italy. Overall, Barcelona have six wins and eight draws from 20 visits to Italian teams in Europe.
Roma have yet to feature in a home draw against Spanish opponents – six wins and five defeats.
In their previous meetings with Barcelona, in the 2001/02 Champions League second group stage, Roma held the Catalans 1-1 away before prevailing 3-0 in the return fixture.
In 2014-15, Roma’s blunt attack was their main down-fall. Compared to 2013/14, Garcia’s side scored 18 goals less last term
Barcelona still went on to win the group whereas Roma were knocked out of the competition after finishing third.
In 2014-15, Roma’s blunt attack was their main downfall.
Compared to 2013/14, Garcia’s side scored 18 goals less last term, dropping so many useful cham-pionship points against less-quoted sides in particular.
This summer Roma added Mohammed Salah (Chelsea) and Edin Dzeko (Manchester City) to Garcia’s squad and it seems the two newcomers have given the side a new dimension up front even though they only managed one goal between them so far.
For Roma, it is important not to lose composure tonight and stay focused the entire 90 minutes.
Victory over Barcelona would be a great result for them but a draw will also represent a promising start for the Italians in this qualifying campaign.
To make a top-two finish, it might be enough for Roma to collect six points from their two fixtures with BATE Borisov and possibly four from their two matches against Bayer Leverkusen, the Bundesliga side that denied Italy a third team in this year’s group phase after eliminating Lazio in the play-offs round.