Roma try to shake off their Bayern Munich mauling, but face an unbeaten Sampdoria” data-scaytid=”2″>Sampdoria side who are third in Serie A.
It kicks off at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT), click here for a match preview.
Roma try to shake off their Bayern Munich mauling, but face an unbeaten Sampdoria side who are third in Serie A.
It kicks off at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT), click here for a match preview.
The Giallorossi were taught a football lesson on Tuesday with their 7-1 Champions League home defeat to Bayern Munich.
It remains to be seen how they will recover from that result and they go straight into a very tough fixture at Marassi.
There are still problems at the back, because Douglas Maicon, Leandro Castan, Seydou Keita, Kevin Strootman and the suspended Kostas Manolas are all unavailable.
Rudi Garcia rotates his squad, but keeps Francesco Totti in the trident attack rather than Mattia Destro.
He’s partnered by Adem Ljajic and Gervinho, moving Alessandro Florenzi to a deeper role in order to rest Miralem Pjanic.
Ashley Cole is dropped to the bench in favour of Greece international Jose Holebas.
Sampdoria are still unbeaten this season and sitting pretty in third place in Serie A, but fumbled a 2-0 lead at Cagliari to draw 2-2 last week.
Emiliano Viviano is out for over a month with a knee injury, so Argentina’s World Cup goalkeeper Sergio Romero gets his chance to shine.
Fabrizio Cacciatore is suspended with Nenad Krsticic sidelined, but it’s a special game for ex-Roma youth products Stefano Okaka and Alessio Romagnoli.
Manolo Gabbiadini is one to watch, having scored almost half of all Samp’s goals this season.
Sampdoria: Romero; De Silvestri, Gastaldello, Romagnoli, Regini; Soriano, Palombo, Obiang; Gabbiadini, Okaka, Eder
Roma: De Sanctis; Torosidis, Astori, Yanga-Mbiwa, Holebas; Florenzi, De Rossi, Nainggolan; Gervinho, Totti, Ljajic