Barça vs Roma: Preview

Barça begin on Wednesday night the fight for a place in the semi-finals

FC Barcelona vs AS Roma

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Competition/Round: 2017-18 UEFA Champions League, Quarterfinal 1st leg

Barcelona team news: Sergio Busquets (doubtful, fitness), Lucas Digne (out, injured), Philippe Coutinho (out, ineligible), Aleix Vidal, Yerry Mina (out, ignored)

Roma team news: Cengiz Ünder (out, thigh), Rick Karsdorp (out, knee), Radja Nainggolan, Lorenzo Pellegrini (doubtful, fitness)

Date/Time: Wednesday, April 4th, 2018, 8.45pm CET (Barcelona), 7.45pm GMT/WAT (UK & Nigeria), 2.45pm EST, 11.45am PST (USA), 12.15am IST (India, next day)

Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Referee: Danny Makkelie (NED)

How to watch on TV: Fox Sports 1 (USA), TSN3 (Canada), BT Sport 3 (UK), SuperSport 6 (Nigeria), SONY TEN 1 (India), others

How to stream: Fox Sports GO (USA), TSN GO (Canada), BT Sport Live (UK), FuboTV (7-day free trial, click here to sign up)

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After one of the worst performances and also one of best and most improbable results of the season against Sevilla, Barcelona will turn their attention to the Champions League quarterfinals against Roma, with the first leg taking place at Camp Nou on Wednesday night.

A lot of people see this as a very favorable draw for Barça, and if you look at the overall quality of the other teams involved in the Last Eight, it’s a fact. What is also a fact is that favorite status is just a status and must be confirmed on the pitch, which is something this current Barça team hasn’t done a lot recently. Another fact is that Roma are an extremely dangerous team when playing away from home, so they deserve a tremendous amount of respect.

The Italians will have the advantage of playing the decisive second leg at their home ground, which means they can take some risks at Camp Nou and look to get an away goal or two. Barça must attack and score multiple goals to take a healthy lead into the Stadio Olimpico, so this one promises to be a lot of fun. Oh, and Ousmane Dembélé has to start. Seriously, he has to. HEAR THAT, ERNESTO??????

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POSSIBLE LINEUPS

Barcelona (4-4-2): Ter Stegen; Roberto, Piqué, Umtiti, Alba; Dembélé, Rakitic, Busquets, Iniesta; Messi, Suárez

Roma (4-3-3): Alisson; Florenzi, Fazio, Manolas, Kolarov; Nainggolan, De Rossi, Strootman; El Shaarawy, Dzeko, Perotti

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PREDICTION

I am surprisingly confident about this match, but ONLY if Dembélé starts. If it’s Paulinho in a midfield four, then Roma will just tear us apart like Sevilla did. START THE OUS, Ernie. If you do, then it’s 3-0 Barça. If not, everyone pray!