UEFA Champion League: AS Roma - FC Porto Preview and Prediction

Date/Time: Tuesday 12th February 2019 (Kick-off 9:00 PM CET). 

The Champions League is always going to be a very important competition for clubs around Europe and this looks like a tie that both Roma and Porto will appreciate as they try and reach the Quarter Final of the tournament.

It is not one in which you can clearly pick who will make it through to the Last Eight and I do think the home Legs are going to be critical for both clubs.

This feels especially important for Roma who are perhaps not the best travellers in the Champions League. They had won 7 in a row at home in the competition before losing to Real Madrid in the Group Stage, but the away form has been miserable with 7 losses from their last 8 in the Champions League.

Roma have been a little out of sync domestically which raises some doubts about them, but they have remained steady at home and have won 4 of 6 here since the loss to Real Madrid. They have scored plenty of goals in those games and I think the play will be dominated by Roma in this First Leg.

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However that may leave them vulnerable to the counter attack and Porto do have the kind of players in the final third who can spring quickly and cause huge damage when they exploit spaces left by teams. The goals scored in the wins at Lokomotiv Moscow and Galatasaray shows how dangerous Porto can be, while they have only lost 1 of their last 7 away games in the Champions League and that has to be respected.

Porto won in Rome in August 2016 as the home team fell apart when two men were sent off, but I do give this current Roma team the narrow edge in this First Leg.

As much as Porto need to be respected for their away run in the Champions League, they have just been struggling for goals in recent away games domestically and this should be a step up in terms of quality. Backing Roma on the Asian Handicap at least returns half the stake in the event of a draw and that is the selection I recommend in this one.

 

Prediction: AS Roma -0.25 AH