UEFA Champions League – Match Preview: AS Roma versus CFR 1907 Cluj
Roma are all set to take on CFR Cluj in their second group stage match of the 2010-2011 UEFA Champions League. It has not been a rosy start to the season for the Roman team who finished as runners up to Inter Milan in the 2009-2010
Scudetto race. In the Italian Serie A season so far, Roma have played five matches and have failed to give satisfactory performances in any of them. In their last league match against Inter Milan, the defending champions of the Serie A crown, Roma sneaked
away with a last minute late winner.
It was a morale boosting win for the team led by Francesco Totti but it wasn’t a convincing win by any means, nonetheless Roma obtained three points but that hasn’t improved their situation much as the Italian giants are still 18th
in the Italian league table only ahead of Udinese and Leece and behind the likes of Inter Milan and AC. Milan along with Juventus. Before their match against Inter took place, Roma played Brescia in their fourth league game of the season. Brescia had no difficultly
in putting the weak Roma defence to sword as the Italian minnows came out as eventual winners by two goals to one.
Roma’s most disappointing result of the season so far has been their five goals to one defeat at Cagliari Calcio. It was a confidence shattering defeat which reflected in Roma’s match against Bayern Munich, their first one as far
as the group stages of the UEFA Champions League are concerned. Uncharacteristically, Roma travelled to Germany to face Bayern Munich with a very conservative strategy. Giallorossi tried to play in a pragmatic manner that is not associated with them as Roma
are usually thought of as an offensive outfit rather than a defensive one. This tactical system did not work out for Roma as they lost by two goals to nil to the German league champions.
After the match, Bayern Munich’s coach came out and made his thoughts clear when he said that he doesn’t like teams like Roma, who switch to a defensive strategy while playing away from their home stadium in the UEFA Champions League.
Roma will be banking on two of their front men i.e. Francesco Totti and Mirko Vucinic for goals and inspiration when they host Cluj. Vucinic was the hero at the weekend as he was the scorer of Roma’s late winner against Inter Milan whereas Totti has traditionally
been seen as a loyal servant to the club and is hailed by many as the greatest Roma player ever.
Roma are presently fourth, at the bottom of their group in the UEFA Champion’s league. Ahead of the Italian giants are the likes of Basel in third place, Bayern Munich in first and Cluj in second, if Roma indeed to get a win against
Cluj at Stadio Olimpico then they might be propelled to the second placed spot in the group taking into account the result between Bayern Munich and Basel. On the other hand, Cluj won their first match of the UEFA Champions’ League group stages against Basel;
it was a narrow 2-1 victory which has put the Romanian football club in a great position to quality for the next stage of the European competition.
CFR drew their last league match which was held at 24th of September, 2010 against Universitatea Cluj. Both the clubs failed to score more than one goal each as the match ended in a one all tie. Cluj don’t hold much pedigree
in the UEFA Champions League, whereas Roma do, in the next few seasons Roma have done well against sides such as Manchester United and Real Madrid. Roma are certainly expected to win this match however given their weak start to the 2010-2011 season and Cluj’s
tendency to surprise, one can probably anticipate a surprise draw for the Romanian giants.
Tags: