Italian Teams Faced with Must-Win Fixtures on Match Day 2

After a very underwhelming match day 1 from the Italian contingent in the 2017-18 Champions League; Juventus, Roma, and Napoli must step up with wins in match day 2 or their chances of advancing will take a big hit. Below I will take a look back on match day 1 and look forward to this week’s match day 2 for each team.

Juventus 

Juventus were faced with their toughest task of the group stage in match day 1 when they traveled to the Camp Nou to face heavyweight Barcelona. In my Champions League preview I said that a loss at the Camp Nou wouldn’t be anything to fret over because it was the one game that I felt Juve could afford to lose. However, the way that Juventus lost was a bit of a concern to Bianconeri fans. Juve lost big to Barcelona 3-0 in a game which they conceded 61% possession and were unable to thwart a potent Barca attack. It’s a result like this that will make you wonder how much Juve will miss Leo Bonucci leading their back line against opponents like Barca who have world class attacks. 

On match day 2 Juve will host Greek side Olympiacos who are coming off a home loss to Sporting Club de Portugal. With Juve returning home to host Olympiacos at the J Stadium I wouldn’t worry about them finding a way to win. Olympiacos are probably the weakest team in the group and Juve are a very strong home side. They rarely haven’t found a way to win at the J Stadium both in Serie A and the Champions League the last few seasons. They are currently a perfect 6-0 in Serie A and coming off an impressive 4-0 over city rivals Torino; their third straight win since the Barca defeat. The combination of superior talent, home field advantage, and confidence from their current run of Serie A form should be plenty to see the Bianconeri easily see off the Greeks on Wednesday. 

AS Roma

Roma were able to hold onto a valuable opening round draw at the Stadio Olimpico against superior side Atletico Madrid thanks to the heroics of goalkeeper Alisson. It was an important point for the Giallorossi who have struggled in recent years in European competitions. However, after playing the visiting Spanish side fairly evenly during an entertaining first half they were thoroughly outplayed in the second. Based on the flow of the game, Roma and their fans were happy to escape with a draw. Every point that Roma can manage against favored sides Atletico and Chelsea will be invaluable in their quest to prove pundits wrong and find a way to advance out of the group. 

On match day 2 Roma will travel to Azerbaijan to face the most unknown side in the whole tournament in the form of Qarabag. Road trips in the Champions League are always tricky, especially ones to Eastern Europe. However, Roma have no option but to win this game if they expect to have any chance of advancing from this difficult group. Like I said in my tournament preview, Roma will need six points from their two matches against Qarabag and the first three need to come on Wednesday in Azerbaijan. Chelsea ran rampant against the Azerbaijani side at Stamford Bridge on match day 1 winning 6-0. Roma will have to take a page from their book and take it to the weaker side early and often. Roma like Juve should come into this match with plenty of confidence as they’ve won their last three Serie A matches since drawing with Atletico. In those three matches they’ve scored 10 and conceded just one goal against bottom half clubs. If Roma can turn the page on past Champions League hiccups in similar matches to this one, they could find themselves in second place or better in the group with Chelsea and Atletico playing head-to-head in Spain later in the day on Wednesday. The Giallorossi can’t pass up this golden opportunity. 

Napoli

Napoli who have scored in bunches the last two seasons in Serie A were unable to find their scoring touch during match day 1. The partenopei opened on the road in a tricky road fixture against Shakhtar Donetsk. The Ukrainian side have a history of finding ways to surprise good teams in previous editions of the Champions League. However, Napoli needed a better result than this. I’d say a draw would’ve been acceptable when opening with a tricky road fixture but a 2-1 defeat that only featured a late penalty kick consolation goal was a poor result for Napoli. Napoli fell behind very early in the match after conceding a goal in the fifteenth minute and just couldn’t find an equalizer before Shakhtar doubled their advantage despite Napoli having slightly better numbers in most offensive categories. 

Napoli return home for their match day 2 fixture against last year’s Dutch Champions Feyenoord. The Dutch side were thoroughly humbled in their first match at home against group favorite Manchester City. Napoli meanwhile are coming off a treble of victories in Serie A like their compatriots in this tournament, including an impressive lashing of Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico 4-1 on Wednesday. Napoli should be riding high on confidence with their recent results and should be backed by a raucous crowd at the San Paolo to boot. Napoli need to get out to a quick start using their high-flying attack and make the match difficult on Feyenoord from the first whistle. After losing on match day 1, nothing less than a win would be an acceptable result at home for the partenopei. If they can’t come away with a victory on Tuesday then Napoli may be in too big of a hole to climb out of as they travel to Man City for match day 3. 

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