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Defending champions Real Madrid kick-off their title defence at home against one of last season's dark horses - AS Roma. On the back of a historic threepeat, one can be sure that the champions will be back eyeing the "Decimocuarta" - their love story with the Champions League continues.
Madrid comes into this game on the back of a tough away trip to the Basque Country in La Liga, coming away with a hard-fought draw. Athletic de Bilbao's high press unnerved the away side, as Julen Lopetegui faced his first road-block in the league. Iker Muniain opened the scoring 32 minutes into the first half, as the Basque club made use of their high press to keep Madrid on their toes.
This combined with the fact that Bilbao's game against Rayo Vallecano was postponed just before the international break meant that they were better rested to execute this high tempo plan against a Madrid side with a majority of its starting XI having just returned from international duty.
Despite this, Lopetegui's half-time rally and Madrid's strong second half showing - capped off by Isco's equaliser at the hour mark means that there were more positives for the capital club to take away from this fixture, Lopetegui's machine is slowing gathering momentum.
Roma, on the other hand, into their opening European fixture on the back of a disappointing draw at home to Chievo. The home team lead 2-0 at half-time with goals from Stephan El Shaarawy and Bryan Cristante, however, a second-half fightback by the away side saw them score through Valter Birsa and Mariusz Stępiński and earn a valuable away point.
Roma has been going through a domestic slum of sorts, with the Chievo draw and another against Atalanta (3-3) flanking a loss to AC Milan (2-1) just before the international break. They will be up against a Real Madrid side that are beginning to be characterised by cohesive pressing, quick (and slick) one-touch passing, flank overloads and a quick switch of play. Madrid will aim at topping their group, after finishing second best in the last few seasons, in order to gain a favourable round of 16 draw.
Wednesday night's Champions League encounter is going to be an absolute cracker. Roma have shown, through last season's dominant European showings, that they can never be written off. Madrid, on the other hand, come in as defending champions yet again - the team to dethrone; of course, no team is as motivated as Real Madrid when it comes to European nights, at the Bernabeu no less. On a less serious note, one can expect a hero's welcome in the Bernabeu for Roma centre-back Kostas Manolas - your enemy's enemy is your friend and all that...
Predicted Line-ups:
Real Madrid: Keylor Navas; Marcelo, Raphael Varane, Sergio Ramos, Dani Carvajal; Toni Kroos, Casemiro, Luka Modric; Marco Asensio, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale.
Roma: Robin Olsen; Alexander Kolarov, Juan Jesus, Kostas Manolas, Alessandro Florenzi; Lorenzo Pellegrini, Steven Nzonzi, Bryan Christante; Stephan El Shaarawy, Edin Džeko and Cengiz Ünder.
Predicted Score: Real Madrid 3-1 Roma
