Champions League: Real Madrid head to Rome after disappointing Eibar loss
By Ben Sundock
After laying an egg against Eibar on Saturday, Real Madrid will look to bounce back against AS Roma in matchday five of the Champions League group stage.
After four consecutive wins in Santiago Solari’s short interim term, the former Madrid midfielder suffered a staggering setback in the Basque Country as his team was dominated from start to finish against mid-table Eibar.
“We have to take a good look at ourselves, we weren’t at the level we should be,” Sergio Ramos told the media following the defeat. “We lacked intensity and that has shown in the scoreline.”
While the 3-0 loss may put a damper on Solari becoming the full-time manager, there is still plenty of hope amongst the fans and a lot to look forward to before the year comes to a close.
When Real Madrid take the field against Roma on Tuesday night in the Stadio Olimpico, it will be its 12th meeting with the Italian side having won seven of those matches including the last three meetings in the Champions League.
In its first meeting with AS Roma, Los Blancos rolled to a rather easy 3-0 win thanks to great goals from Gareth Bale and Isco and a finishing strike from substitute Mariano Diaz.
Since this loss, Roma has rattled off three consecutive wins and remain right on the heels of Madrid. The two teams are tied atop Group G with nine points, however, thanks to a plus eight goal differential, Real Madrid is in the poll position.
A win Tuesday night for either team ensures they advance to the knockout stage and whoever does mange to secure all three points will likely go on to win the group.
Solari has called upon 20 players to make the short flight east for the match and for the most part, the squad looks close to healthy.
One noticeable name omitted from the squad is goalkeeper Keylor Navas who continues to rehab from a minor surgery on his knee to clean up some scarring tissue.
📝 Our 20-man squad for the trip to face @ASRomaEN!#RMUCL | #HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/0AOyqKSMMf
— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) November 26, 2018
Next. Real Madrid: What goes up must come down. dark
With Madridistas already starting to question the decision to make Santi Solari the permanent manager, a win or at least a draw is huge.
There is still a slight chance Real Madrid don’t make the knockout round, however, CSKA Moscow must win its last two group stage matches – against Plzen and Madrid – and Los Blancos would have to either draw and lose or lose both of its matches.
The Stadio Olimpico can be a hostile environment, but a 2-2-1 run in the last five league matches has left the Romans nearly 20 points back of first place Juventus and seventh in Serie A.
If Real Madrid plays the way they usually do in the UCL, they should manage to secure all three points. However, if they start slowly as they did against Eibar, the likes of Eden Dzeko and Stephan El Shaarawy will make them pay.