Roma vs Shakhtar

February 15, 2011
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

Roma enter the match on the back of two successive defeats in Serie A, so they will have to show a massive improvement if they want to win this game. Shakhtar, on the other hand, haven’t been in competitive action since early December, but they still have reason for optimism before the clash at Olimpico.

Roma on the downtrend

Roma managed to recover from the dismal start to the season and they even returned to the title race at the end of last year, but even when their results were pretty impressive, we could see that something was wrong and that things would turn to the worse. Claudio Ranieri was clearly unable to gain control over the dressing room, as witnessed by his clashes with Francesco Totti, Mirko Vucinic and Adriano, with the poor atmosphere quickly translating to the pitch. As a result, Roma are going through a very rough patch, having recorded heavy defeats to Inter and Napoli in their last two games, meaning the confidence at Olimpico is pretty low before the visit of Shakhtar. The boss admitted the team are all over the place following a defeat to Napoli, so Roma could face problems against very good Shakhtar side.

Francesco Totti could return to the starting line-up after recovering from a bout of flu, while Philippe Mexes and Nicolas Burdisso return from domestic bans. Adriano and David Pizzaro remain sidelined.

Two months without a competitive game

Shakhtar have established themselves as a very good European side over the last six years, mostly thanks to Rinat Ahmetov’s money and Mircea Lucescu’s coaching skills. The pair worked well together to build one of the best squads in Europe and they are already starting to reap the fruits of their labour. The Ukrainians already have a European trophy in their cabinet, having beaten Werder in the UEFA Cup final in Istanbul, but this is the first year when they have made it to the Champions League knockout stages and the Miners are not yet ready to stop. As the season in Ukraine ended more than two months ago, Shakhtar were forced to prepare for this clash by playing friendly games, but having kept hold of their key players, the Ukrainians definitely stand a chance of getting something from this game.

Vasyl Kobin and Olexandr Kucher are out through injuries, but that shouldn’t be a problem as they are not normally considered first team regulars. Fernandinho has returned into action following the lengthy spell on the sidelines, but he is likely to start on the bench.

Verdict

Roma are all over the place at the moment and the lack of confidence together with the poor atmosphere around the squad could seriously affect their chances in this match. Shakhtar are very strong at the back and extremely dangerous on the break with four Brazilians occupying attacking position and I believe they can avoid defeat at Olimpico.

Our prediction:
Double chance on Shakhtar

Odds: 1.80 (4/5)

Bookmaker:
Paddy Power

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