Real Madrid vs. Roma Discussion Thread

That's what I call good tactical preparation - they know you got no right winger, so they'll just stack up the left side

Jaime wrote:So Roma will be playing with three right backs then? Brilliant!

WTF?

The Brazilian has not played for the Giallorossi since the week 18 clash with Atalanta on January 13.

He has since missed the Serie A matches with Catania, Palermo, Siena and Reggina, but is now said to be training well.

Roma have possibly their most important week of the season coming up as first they travel to Turin to face Juventus this weekend, before hosting Real Madrid at the Stadio Olimpico in the last 16 first leg of the Champions League.

Juan would like to return for the match with Juventus, but a lot will depend on how he performs in training over the next couple of days.

It seems likely that Coach Luciano Spalletti will stick with his centre-back partnership of Christian Panucci and Philippe Mexes, or recall Matteo Ferrari, allowing Panucci to take Cicinho’s right-back role.

Either way Juan will definitely be back for the match with La Liga leaders Real Madrid next Tuesday.

Roma full back Cicinho talked about his difficult period in Madrid ahead of the Champions League tie against his former team Real.

Without a doubt, Roma-Real Madrid stands out as one of the most mouth-watering ties in the first knockout round of the Champions League. It will be even more special for Brazilian full back Cicinho, who made the move from Real Madrid to Roma last summer after a torrid time with the Blancos.

The Brazilian international took the opportunity to talk about his disappointing stint in Madrid.

"I was not happy at Real. I was sad because at the start of the season [coach Bernd] Schuster talked to me at the start of the season and said I wasn't going to play because he preferred Sergio Ramos," he revealed.

"I talked with my wife, my father and my mother, with [goalkeeper Alexandre] Doni and the other Brazilians playing with Roma and then I made my decision," Cicinho continued.

Coach Luciano Spalletti had a decisive input in the operation, as the player explained: "He asked how much I wanted and this gave me strength. He's fun to work with, when we do physical work he does it with us, he's always calm."

Marcelo has been ruled out of this weeks Roma game due to a calf injury. He will join Christoph Metzelder, Pepe, Javier Saviola, Wesley Sneijder and Robinho on the sidelines.

Gabriel Heinze returns though.

that might not be a bad thing considering his perfomance against betis. but it is worring that we havent used our best defence for more then 2 games straight this season. constantly moving ramos between rightback and centreback. thankfully cannavaro has been very good. hopefully heinze is put in straight away and ramos can play Rb with torres on Lb.

supermadrid wrote:that might not be a bad thing considering his perfomance against betis. but it is worring that we havent used our best defence for more then 2 games straight this season. constantly moving ramos between rightback and centreback. thankfully cannavaro has been very good. hopefully heinze is put in straight away and ramos can play Rb with torres on Lb.

We haven't used our best defense in more than one game, PERIOD. Ramos/Cannavaro/Pepe/Heinze have only played together against Barcelona in the Camp Nou. That's prettu much the only game they've played together. If these 4 had played together this whole time who knows how many points we'd be ahead of Farca at this stage.

We're in a very worrying situation in terms of injuries. Our best attacking player (Robinho) is injured while Ruud isn't match fit. Our best CBs are also out while Heinze could get injured if he's rushed against Roma, not to mention he could have an awful game since he hasn't played for so long.

At this stage I would be very happy if we manage a draw tomorrow. Within the next 2 weeks we would have Pepe, Robinho and Heinze back so we should take care of business in the Bernabeu.

0-3 to Real. Ruud, Raul and Robben to score. Drenthe 1 assist.
Second half a Roma player sent off.

FACT!

The problems at Roma are growing ahead of the Champions League clash with Real Madrid after Christian Panucci and Alberto Aquilani were involved in a furious training ground incident.
The Giallorossi go into tomorrow night’s game with the Spanish league leaders low in confidence and in desperately poor form following two defeats in their last three Serie A games.

On Saturday they fell to a 1-0 loss to Juventus in Turin, a result that all but ended their Scudetto chances.

After the game, various members of the Roma squad, such as Rodrigo Taddei and Philippe Mexes, admitted that the team was not playing well at the moment, but that's the least of their worries.

It seems that the morale in the squad has now worsened following a vicious training ground incident.

It has been reported that Alberto Aquilani poked fun at Christian Panucci after the defender was left on the bench during the match at Juventus.

This did not impress the notoriously volatile Panucci, who took offence at the remark, and eventually the pair had to be pulled apart to prevent fists being thrown.

This is less than ideal preparation for Roma ahead of the match with Real Madrid, and captain Francesco Totti is also struggling to be fit for the game due to back pain.

Er Pupone has been in very poor form recently, and put in one of his worst performances for a long time against Juve.

Pierre Littbarski wrote:

Forza Italia!Forza Milan! wrote:I have a feeling Roma will do this. Real are certainly the better team, but I think Roma will edge it.

Spalleti has improved Roma and did a great job at Udine but maybe he's a bit too nice to be a real winner at the top level ?

Robinho is awesome and they can't afford to stand off Guti for a second.

Ruud's a big, steaming pile of $h!t once it gets to this stage.

I hope Mexes kicks the f@ck out of him

top 10 CL hitmenhttp://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/article812513.ece

Looks like Schuster will opt for the following:

------------------------Casillas

S. Ramos-----Cannavaro----Heinze-----Torres

-------Guti-------Diarra-----Gago-------Robben

---------------Raul-----v. Nistelrooy

Guti will shade towards the right of midfield but Sergio Ramos will be the one pushing up to give us width on the flank when we have the ball. Heinze+Cannavaro in the centre which as worked alright this season, just hope Heinze is actually fit for the match.

How long is Sniejder out for??

Jaime wrote:Looks like Schuster will opt for the following:

------------------------Casillas

S. Ramos-----Cannavaro----Heinze-----Torres

-------Guti-------Diarra-----Gago-------Robben

---------------Raul-----v. Nistelrooy

Guti will shade towards the right of midfield but Sergio Ramos will be the one pushing up to give us width on the flank when we have the ball. Heinze+Cannavaro in the centre which as worked alright this season, just hope Heinze is actually fit for the match.

bluenine wrote:How long is Sniejder out for??

Jaime wrote:Looks like Schuster will opt for the following:

------------------------Casillas

S. Ramos-----Cannavaro----Heinze-----Torres

-------Guti-------Diarra-----Gago-------Robben

---------------Raul-----v. Nistelrooy

Guti will shade towards the right of midfield but Sergio Ramos will be the one pushing up to give us width on the flank when we have the ball. Heinze+Cannavaro in the centre which as worked alright this season, just hope Heinze is actually fit for the match.

Not sure about Midget...I think the doctors said around 4 weeks.

Fucking temperamental c**t! Panucci is like 10 years older than him! FFS man get a sense of humour instead of trying to fight a teammate. Neither of them should start tomorrow night. Which means that fat c**t Pizarro will play.

Team I would pick:

----------------Doni--------------
Cassetti---Juan---Mexes---Tonetto
---------De Rossi---Perrotta--------
Giuly---------Totti----------Mancini
---------------Vucinic---------------

The team Spalletti will probably pick:

----------------Doni--------------
Cassetti---Juan---Mexes---Tonetto
---------De Rossi---Pizarro--------
Taddei-------Perrotta-------Mancini
----------------Totti---------------

2-0 to the Giallorossi, an Amantino Mancini brace.

I see those drugs are affecting your judgement!

BM wrote:Fucking temperamental c**t! Panucci is like 10 years older than him! FFS man get a sense of humour instead of trying to fight a teammate. Neither of them should start tomorrow night. Which means that fat c**t Pizarro will play.

Team I would pick:

----------------Doni--------------
Cassetti---Juan---Mexes---Tonetto
---------De Rossi---Perrotta--------
Giuly---------Totti----------Mancini
---------------Vucinic---------------

The team Spalletti will probably pick:

----------------Doni--------------
Cassetti---Juan---Mexes---Tonetto
---------De Rossi---Pizarro--------
Taddei-------Perrotta-------Mancini
----------------Totti---------------

2-0 to the Giallorossi, an Amantino Mancini brace.

Are you sure that Aqulani and Panucci wont play? I dont remember reading that. anyway i agree that it would be prob be best if totti started behind a striker because off his recent form. i prefer him behind strikers anyway where he can feed them.looks like a strong team and if roma get a lead then you dont know with us because our defence right is very bad because of absences which means salgado might play which would be very bad for us.
im not going to exclude anything and a 2-0 is farfetched at all. allthough i think we could do the same if we get the lead.

Cassetti is first choice and Aquilani has only started he coppa in the last 4 months. It's safe to say neither of them will be in the first 11.

Jaime wrote:Looks like Schuster will opt for the following:

------------------------Casillas

S. Ramos-----Cannavaro----Heinze-----Torres

-------Guti-------Diarra-----Gago-------Robben

---------------Raul-----v. Nistelrooy

Guti will shade towards the right of midfield but Sergio Ramos will be the one pushing up to give us width on the flank when we have the ball. Heinze+Cannavaro in the centre which as worked alright this season, just hope Heinze is actually fit for the match.

If Heinze gets injured then Roma will rip our defense apart. The prospect of having Torres and Salgado as fullbacks really gets me nervous. Besides that it's a good lineup. The problem of playing Gago and Diarra though is that Gago often drops deep to take the ball out with Diarra ahead of him. Diarra should really go nowhere near beyond the midfield line. I'm glad that he's playing though because away from home we need more steel in midfield.

I guess we can expect a counter-attack performance based on that lineup but considering all the injuries we have, I think a draw would be a very good result. I'm confident of killing off the tie in the Bernabeu with the likes of Robinho and Pepe back.

I'd rather Gago drop deep to get the ball than have Diarra do it. Basically Diarra should just stand in the centre circle and wait until the Roma midfielders get the ball and then just run at them and kick them.

I still think we can win today, but I'd be satisfied with a draw.

Jaime wrote:I'd rather Gago drop deep to get the ball than have Diarra do it. Basically Diarra should just stand in the centre circle and wait until the Roma midfielders get the ball and then just run at them and kick them.
I still think we can win today, but I'd be satisfied with a draw.

Jaime wrote:I'd rather Gago drop deep to get the ball than have Diarra do it. Basically Diarra should just stand in the centre circle and wait until the Roma midfielders get the ball and then just run at them and kick them.

I still think we can win today, but I'd be satisfied with a draw.

this would logical for me. look at milan where pirlo is allowed to do what he wants infront of the defence while gattuso can run around further ahead of him and do work.

Don't think Madrid should have any problems...Totti isn't firing for Roma, they don't play a high pressure-defensive game or a game based on crossing, and they're just not on peak form this season.

Hopefully Giuly sticks at least one goal past Casillas though

Jaime wrote:I'd rather Gago drop deep to get the ball than have Diarra do it. Basically Diarra should just stand in the centre circle and wait until the Roma midfielders get the ball and then just run at them and kick them.

I still think we can win today, but I'd be satisfied with a draw.

He's usually better at waiting till the person has run past him, then run behind the opposition player elbowing him in the back. Classy

Anyone know the latest on De Rossi? I just read that he was doubtful because of illness. I hadn't heard that before. Wouldn't be too sad if we missed him.

Our record in the Olympic Stadium:

2000/01 Lazio 2 Real Madrid 2
2001/02 Roma 1 Real Madrid 2
2002/03 Roma 0 Real Madrid 3
2004/05 Roma 0 Real Madrid 3
2007/08 Lazio 2 Real Madrid 2

Hopefully the trend continues!

0-3 would be lovely.

De Rossi not being able to play is a disaster for Roma. They have no natural backup for him. They will have a VERY lightweight midfield.

The only thing they could do is perhaps move Perrotta back into the holding position and let Aquilani play as the trequartista.

BoBo Vieri wrote:De Rossi not being able to play is a disaster for Roma. They have no natural backup for him. They will have a VERY lightweight midfield.

The only thing they could do is perhaps move Perrotta back into the holding position and let Aquilani play as the trequartista.

Yes I would do the same. This is a big blow for Roma, Amantino and Er Pupone will have to step up big time.

Spalletti will definitely go for Pizarro and Brighi in the midfield. I've mentioned numerous times of my distaste for Brighi, he has slower reflexes than Gilberto Silva! Still, I'm confident that a midfield containing Gago will be torn apart no matter who we play.

OFFICIAL:

1 Casillas, 4 S. Ramos, 22 Torres, 16 Heinze, 5 Cannavaro, 14 Guti, 8 Gago, 6 Diarra, 11 Robben, 7 Raul, 17 van Nistelrooy.


------------------------Casillas

S. Ramos-----Cannavaro----Heinze-----Torres

--------Guti-------Diarra-----Gago-------Robben

---------------Raul-----v. Nistelrooy

Jaime wrote:OFFICIAL:

1 Casillas, 4 S. Ramos, 22 Torres, 16 Heinze, 5 Cannavaro, 14 Guti, 8 Gago, 6 Diarra, 11 Robben, 7 Raul, 17 van Nistelrooy.

Very good team. Henize on the left with Ramos in the middle?

With De Rossi not playing I can see a high scoring draw.