PBP: UEFA Champions League - Quarterfinal 1st Leg | FC Barcelona v AS Roma | 4 April 2018 [R]

Clean sheet will be may prove crucial.

 

Will miss the second leg if booked during this game.

FCB: Sergi Roberto

ASR: Manolas, Perotti

 

Hope Busquets is back for this one and our other guys stay healthy and hungry. Gotta clean up some defensive mistakes from Saturday. Roma is a dangerous side.

 

Yes, if Busquets can play and Messi can play from the start, I am very hopeful. But I think it will take all 180 minutes to prevail, hope I'm wrong and we can seize a commanding lead in first leg.

 

Is Roma a defensive minded team or attack minded team?

 

Isn't Busquets problem with his pinky toe? Pretty sure he'd be playing in this match even if it was played 3 days after suffering the injury, never mind 3 weeks after.

Hard to envision Messi not starting either. Guess the main question is, is he 100%?

 

The full squad list is as follows: Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Jasper Cillessen, Nelson Semedo, Gerard Pique, Ivan Rakitic, Sergio Busquets, Denis Suarez, Andres Iniesta, Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi, Ousmane Dembele, Paulinho, Paco Alcacer, Jordi Alba, Sergi Roberto, Andre Gomes, Samuel Umtiti, Thomas Vermaelen.

Missing out are cup-tied Coutinho, injured Digne, and coach's decision Yerry Mina, and Aleix Vidal.

Lineup prediction expressed as 4-4-2, could also move Dembele up and call it a 4-3-3, but the reality is more nuanced than either:

MAtS
Roberto-Pique-Umtiti-Alba
Dembele-Raki-Busi-Ini
Messi-Suarez
​

Welcome back from injury Semedo, great to see Denis make another lineup. Some will want to see Semedo start over Roberto. Or want to see someone else start over Dembele (a role Paulinho had but hasn't been playing so well). With Vermaelen back to full health it only makes sense that Yerry is in the stands, and I suppose with Dembele and Semedo back to full health and in the squad there was not much of a spot for Aleix Vidal either (and while some of us would rather see Gomes in the stands, he probably needs to be on the bench to at least help him get through his crisis in confidence).

 

Probably one of the most important home games of the season in Europe.

 

TODAY IS A SPECIAL DAY!
Tonight in the @ChampionsLeague the club I love take on the first team I played for abroad and that I've got great affection for. #UCL pic.twitter.com/FE3ZLHHsWj

— Bojan Krkic (@BoKrkic) April 4, 2018

 

Sport prediction agreed on my lineup prediction (but shows it as a 4-3-3 not 4-4-2, neither of which is really a perfect encapsulation). Sport also has the dude Nainggolan who injured Rafinha out injured himself which is nice for us as he usually starts for them and that was a nasty tackle he put on Rafinha. He is known for his nasty tackles so glad he is not playing, here's the one on Rafinha (have to click through): http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3741vp
here he breaks a guys leg:
here is a compilation of his weird slide tackle style:
That has now been confirmed by an article in Sport:

Barcelona have been handed a boost ahead of their Champions League quarterfinal first leg against Roma with the news that midfielder Radja Nainggolan is out injured. Nainggolan has played 25 Serie A and eight Champions League matches this season, but Lorenzo Pellegrini will be his replacement at the Camp Nou. Pellegrini did have some physical problems of his own, but finally entered Di Francesco's squad in place of the Belgian.

 

SEMEDO IN THE HOUSE! Albeit at the expense of Dembele. So a true 4-4-2 with Roberto as 4th Mid I guess, and Semedo as true RB playing RB (what a concept)!

MAtS
Semedo-Pique-Umtiti-Alba
Roberto-Raki-Busi-Ini
Messi-Suarez
​

Sad for Dembele but great for Semedo and I think for us keeping a clean sheet, though Roberto's D has gotten better. Hopefully Dembele gets to come at tired Roma legs in the 2nd half and help us get another goal then.

 

I’ve heard that Roma is a dirty team,

 

less so without Nainggolan

 

Roma will park a fire truck with that line up.

 

interesting to see them lining up with two RBs - Florenzi and Bruno Peres. probably to contain Alba's overlapping runs.

 

whoaaa what an amazing own goal

 

Gracies, De Rossi! OG. 1-0.