Daniele De Rossi out of Roma’s Champions League clash with Basel
According to latest media reports, AS Roma will welcome FC Basel to the Olimpico without their midfield general, Daniele De Rossi. Coach Claudio Ranieri has recently come out in the press and confirmed the bad news.
Roma has the likes of Cluj and Bayern Munich in its group and must win its home games at the least to qualify for the next round. Even though Bayern and Roma are favourites to progress form the group, nothing can be taken for granted in the elite European competition.
De Rossi, Mirko Vucinic and Jeremy Menez all missed the match against Genoa and the club has confirmed that Gilarossi will be without the services of the trio for their UEFA Champions League match. The club has been underperforming in recent times and injuries to key players will only make matters worse. Following a disastrous start to their Serie A campaign, Roma recorded only their second victory on Sunday against Genoa. Borriello and Brighi were on target for the Gilarossi.
Daniele De Rossi is the heart and soul of the current Roma squad while Mirko Vucinic brings some much needed urgency into the attack.
In De Rossi’s absence, the club will look to David Pizarro to perform in the middle of the park. Pizarro is suffering from a ligament injury himself and the lack of adequate backup means the Chilean maestro has been unable to rest. Pizarro must be given some rest; a stitch in time saves nine. Ranieri might look to give Simplicio a rare start for the home fixture as the Brazilian has found it hard to feature in the first team plans.
The players available for the clash are: Julio Baptista, Marco Borriello, Matteo Brighi, Nicolas Burdisso, Marco Cassetti, Cicinho, Paolo Castellini, Doni, Greco, Juan, Bogdan Lobont, Philipe Mexes, Okaka Chuka, Simone Perrotta, David Pizzaro, John-Arne Riise, Aleandro Rosi, Fabio Simplicio, Rodrigo Taddei and Francesco Totti.
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