Ever since arriving in Italy's capital, Rudi Garcia has appeared to have revitalized Roma. The Giallorossi had been struggling to even break into the top five prior to the French tactician's arrival, but over the past two seasons have secured Champions League football thanks to their best showings in recent times. Whilst they have yet to be unable to overthrow Juventus as the country's reigning Scudetto holders, Roma nonetheless have proven that they are no longer a side to be ignored and deserve to be taken seriously.
However, with this newfound prominence comes greater responsibilities, namely competition on the continent. Last season saw them absolutely humiliated by a rampant Bayern Munich and failure to qualify from the group stages. When paired against fellow Italian opponent in the Europa League round of 16, the Lupi were unable to find a way past the Viola and will hope to have better fortunes this time around.
So far, they have kicked off their Champions League campaign well by holding reigning UCL winners and heavy title favorites Barcelona to a 1-1 draw at the Stadio Olimpico. Yet, despite this, Garcia is nonetheless feeling the pressure as he prepares to take on Sampdoria on the road tomorrow evening.
Sampdoria
Tomorrow's hosts have had an interesting start to their campaign. Their Europa League aspirations went up in smoke before it even started. In the league, they kicked off proceedings in a seven goal thriller versus Serie A new boys Carpi, which ended as a 5-2 win in Samp's favor.
The lack of consistency for the Blucerchiati will be quite maddening for fans and their recent loss to Torino will leave the team feeling devoid of confidence, despite Brazilian international Eder leading the scoring charts.
Roma
If fans were pleased with the result against Barcelona, they certainly weren't amused with the outcome of the match with Sassuolo. Now in their third season in the Italian top flight the Neroverdi have made it clear they are hell bent on staying put, and are slowly developing a reputation as a team who are adept at frustrating more esteemed opponents.
This was on full display this past weekend, when Roma were held to a draw. The only highlight perhaps was Francesco Totti grabbing a goal, which now takes the 2006 World Cup winner to 300 goals for his beloved team in all competitions. A win over Juventus on matchday two had Lupi supporters celebrating, and after that frustrating draw against minnows Sassuolo they will hope to see more of that kind of performance against Sampdoria tomorrow.
Unfortunately for Giallorossi fans, the evergreen captain will not be able to feature, with reports noting that the 38-year-old Totti is currently suffering from a badly bruised hand. Another notable absentee for Garcia's men will be young German international Antonio Rudiger, who is recovering from a knock to his left knee and Polish international Wojciech Szczesny. The on-loan Arsenal man was injured during Roma's clash with Barcelona and is set for some time out after suffering a dislocated finger.
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