AS Roma bank on home advantage when they welcome FC Porto for the first leg of Champions League round of 16 tie.The Italians had a roller coaster ride in the group stage this term and lost 3 of their 6 games and yet finished second in the group behind Real Madrid.Roma had a winning streak in Champions League that lasted an year. This came to an end with the loss against Real Madrid in the final group stage game.They were expected to be more consistent than that in this season, however they become the sort of team that win some and lose some. Their fourth place in Serie A, 14 points behind second placed Napoli explain this. Furthermore, they tend to drop a lot of points at home as well, despite losing just 2 of the 15 in all competitions.
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Roma lineup:
Mirante; Karsdorp, Marcano, Jesus, Kolarov; Zaniolo, N’zonzi, Cristante; El Shaarawy, Dzeko, Kluivert
Porto lineup:
Casillas; Militao, Felipe, Pepe, Telles; Pereira, Torres, Herrera; Otavio, Soares, Brahimi
Head To Head
Porto are unbeaten in their four previous competitive meetings with Roma, knocking out the Italian side in the second round of the 1981-82 European Cup and in the 2016-17 Champions League playoffs.
That most recent encounter two seasons ago saw the Dragons run out 3-0 winners at the Stadio Olimpico through goals from Felipe, Miguel Layun and Jesus Corona following a 1-1 draw in the first leg.The 2016 loss to Porto was only Roma’s second in their last 11 matches against Portuguese clubs, winning five and drawing the other four.