Although they beat Juventus early on and have accumulated a fair 11 points from their first six games, quite a few of Roma's fans are still not fully impressed. Since French tactician Rudi Garcia took over in 2013, the team have traditionally started their past two campaigns off well, including posting an excellent run of ten straight wins back in the 2013/2014 season.
At this juncture last season, the Giallorossi had won five on the trot before being halted by Juventus, whilst in the season before that, they had earned a perfect 18 points. As such, despite cruising to an easy three points against Carpi this past weekend, Garcia's men nonetheless will be feeling the pressure as they undertake the long trek to Belarus to face off against BATE on matchday two of the 2015/2016 Champions League group stage.
BATE Borisov
Without sounding disrespectful to today's hosts, most football fans can be forgiven for not knowing too much about Roma's upcoming opponents BATE Borisov. Although BATE have long dominated
This will be the
BATE are also no strangers to Serie A sides. Since 2001, the team, who were the first ever Belarusian side to qualify for a Champions League group stage in 2008, have played against Italian opposition on eight occasions. Out of these, they have yet to win any, with four wins and four draws and will be hoping for their
Having being utterly humiliated 4-1 by Bayer Leverkusen earlier this month, BATE will hope to rely on that decent home record as they desperately need at least one point to keep their Champions League aspirations alive.
Roma
Indeed, it has been an interesting month of September for last season's Serie A runners-up. Since defeating reigning Scudetto champions Juventus 2-1 at the Stadio Olimpico, Roma
Although they will be coming into this match having thrashed another recently relegated side - Carpi - 5-1, it came at a massive cost as both Francesco Totti and Edin Dzeko suffered thigh and knee injuries in the clash and will not be fit to feature. With the duo out, Garcia will be relying on Gervinho to step up and deliver in Belarus, especially given their tricky matches against Leverkusen coming up next month and in November. Other absentees for this game will include veteran midfielder Seydou Keita, who is struggling with a thigh problem of his own as well as Iago Falque and Antonio Rudiger.
Yet despite being hurt during his team's draw with the Blaugrana, Wojciech Szczesny has been recalled to the squad and will likely resume his place between the posts, according to reports in Italy. Additionally, the versatile Alessandro Florenzi, who netted that wonder-strike against Barca on matchday one has also been included after missing out on the team's match vs. Carpi this weekend, and as per reports, could be deployed in attack alongside Mohamed Salah and Gervinho.
Indeed, despite now missing talismanic attacker Lionel Messi due to an unfortunate injury suffered this weekend, Barcelona are nonetheless expected to qualify from their group as winners by the time things settle this December. Hence, with second-place up for grabs - likely to be contested between the Giallorossi and Leverkusen - each and every single win, loss, or draw going forward will be vital to Roma's own aspirations to earn themselves a spot in the round of 16.
Will Roma earn their first win and maintain their unbeaten run in the 2015/2016 Champions League? Or will the Giallorossi, sans the guidance of their evergreen skipper Totti, be cast adrift by their hosts?
Make sure you don't miss out this game and the rest of this week's group stage clashes by bookmarking our special BATE vs. Roma and Champions League pages for viewing times and options for your specific location.
BATE vs Roma Lineups
BATE's Starting XI: Chernik, Polyakov, Bubra, Milunovic, Mladenovic, Baga, Aleksievich, Stasevich, Hleb, Gordejchuk, Signevich
Roma's Starting XI: Szczesny; Florenzi, Manolas, De Rossi, Digne; Vainqueur, Nainggolan, Pjanic; Iturbe, Gervinho, Salah
Match details, result and original broadcast info
This match has ended. Below are the original Live broadcast details for this match.
Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
Follow the game on-the-go
Download our iOS and Android apps to follow soccer on-the-go. It comes packed with features - live scores, fixtures, results, tables, line-ups, stats, TV schedule and much more! Sorry, no live streaming within the app.
