To say that last week’s first leg clash at Anfield was a thrilling encounter would be an understatement. As far as Champions League semi-finals go it’s a game that is hard to beat in terms of entertainment, and apart from the final ten minutes, Jurgen Klopp will be in full agreement.
The in form Liverpool romped to a ridiculous 5-0 lead against Roma and the tie looked dead and buried, but they switched off in the final ten minutes and allowed the Serie A side to net twice. This makes it 5-2 on aggregate, and whilst this is still a comfortable scoreline, Klopp will be very wary of AS Roma. The Italians overturned a 4-1 deficit against Barcelona in the quarter finals, beating them 3-0 at the Stadio Olimpico to book their place in this semi-final. A repeat of that 3-0 scoreline would see them progress to the final.
Roma managed to bounce back from their heavy Anfield defeat on Saturday too, thrashing Chievo 4-1 at home to consolidate their spot in the Serie A top four. Edin Dzeko bagged a brace in that game to make it 16 Serie A goals for the season too, adding to his seven Champions League goals. He scored at Anfield last week too and has now scored in each of his last four Champions League outings, so he looks a great choice for our anytime goalscorer predictions here.
Whilst Roma were dominant against Chievo, Liverpool were anything but against the relegation threatened Stoke. They looked sluggish and uninterested for the most part, despite both Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino starting. That game ended goalless, although that does extend Liverpool’s unbeaten run to nine games in all competitions.
Liverpool are having an excellent season without a doubt, but most of that success is thanks to their world class front three. The other end of the pitch is rife with problems, and the fact they have conceded in four of their last five away games is testament to that. Their last away game saw them concede two against the lowly West Brom, so Roma will definitely be happy to give it a go at the Stadio Olimpico.
The Italians are in excellent goalscoring form too. They have won six of their last eight competitive games at home and scored an impressive 18 goals in the process. Five of these eight games have seen them score at least two goals as well, and given their performance against Barcelona in the last round, backing Roma Over 1.5 Team Goals looks a great shout here.
Scoring past Liverpool is one thing, but keeping a clean sheet is an entirely different situation. The visitors have scored 41 goals in their last 17 away days in all competitions, failing to score just twice in the process. In the Champions League they have netted 18 away goals in just five matches since the start of the group stages. Roma should have enough about them to get the win at home, but overturning a three goal deficit and keeping a clean sheet looks a step too far, so we’re backing a Roma Win and Both Teams to Score alongside a 2-1 correct score predictions.
Roma Predicted Lineup: Alisson, Florenzi, Fazio, Manolas, Nunes Jesus, Kolarov, Strootman, De Rossi, Nainggolan, Under, Dzeko
Liverpool Predicted Lineup: Karius, Alexander-Arnold, Lovren, Van Dijk, Robertson, Milner, Henderson, Wijnaldum, Mane, Salah, Firmino
HEAD TO HEAD
Roma have won four, drawn one, and lost three of their eight previous meetings with Liverpool, although prior to last week's 5-2 win for Liverpool the most recent competitive meeting came back in 2002 when Liverpool beat them 2-0 on aggregate in the Champions League knockout stages.
ROMA VS LIVERPOOL STATS
Liverpool have scored in 100% of their Champions League away matches this season.
The visitors have netted in 15 of their last 17 competitive away games.
Roma have scored 2.25 goals per game on average in the last eight matches at the Stadio Olimpico, including scoring three against Barcelona.
The hosts have scored two or more in five of those eight matches.