Preview: Roma Women vs. Barcelona Women
Roma Women continue their first Women’s Champions League campaign with a difficult quarter-final tie against Barcelona Women.
The Italian side will have home advantage for the first leg, which will take place at the Stadio Olimpico on Tuesday in front of at least 35,000 supporters.
Roma Women collected 13 points from their six group games to finish in second place and one point behind German champions Wolfsburg.
Alessandro Spugna’s charges know that they will have to be at their very best to trouble one of the best sides Europe has to offer, but Roma’s promising domestic campaign suggests that they are capable of causing Barcelona a few problems.
Not only have they set up a Coppa Italia final against Juventus, but Roma are also on course to end the Turin club’s five-year reign as Serie A champions.
They claimed their seventh consecutive league victory on Friday, hammering Fiorentina 5-1 to maintain their eight-point lead at the top of the table.
Including qualifying, Roma have won three and drawn one of their home Champions League games this season, which will provide them with a source of inspiration ahead of Tuesday’s first leg.
Barcelona, meanwhile, went close to retaining the Champions League trophy that they won in 2021 after they reached their third European final in four years.
However, a 3-1 defeat to Lyon in last season’s final denied Barcelona a second Champions League crown, and they will look to use that disappointment as motivation for their current European campaign.
Having won all of their 22 Liga F games this season, the Catalan giants are set to win their fourth consecutive league title, but they will be unable to defend their Copa de la Reina trophy after they were expelled from the competition for fielding an ineligible player.
We say: Roma Women 1-3 Barcelona Women
Roma have acquitted themselves well in their first Women’s Champions League campaign, but we think that they may be given a reality check by a Barcelona side who have proven to be one of their most feared teams in Europe over the last few years.