Match Preview - Liverpool vs. Roma - Champions League Semi-Finals
Published on April 21st, 2018 - 8:18am ESTWritten By: Ariel Noel
The first UEFA Champions League semi-final game takes place this coming Tuesday, April 24th at Anfield, with Liverpool playing hosts to AS Roma. This promises to be a an exciting first leg between two teams who surprised nearly everyone by making it this far in the tournament.Liverpool are coming into this match in great form and momentum on their side. They dismantled Manchester City in the last round of the competition, while in the English Premier League they have a firm hold on a Champions League spot for next season. The Reds are undefeated in their last six games, out of which they won five.
Roma made a memorable comeback in the second leg of last round vs. heavily favored Barcelona, winning at home 3-0 and going through on the away goals. Domestically, with five games to go in the season, Roma are 3rd, but their spot in next season's Champions League is far from guaranteed.
The odds for the upcoming match are:
Source: Bet365
Time Stamp: April 20th, 2018 - 9:00 am EST
Odds Subject to Change
Liverpool: 1/2
Draw: 10/3
Roma: 11/2
To qualify to the finals:
Liverpool: 2/5
Roma: 7/4
To win tournament:
Real Madrid: 15/8
Liverpool: 9/4
Bayern: 9/4
Roma: 9/1
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Liverpool are, without a doubt, the favourites to win at home and advance to the finals. They have been consistent lately and are playing with flare. If the atmosphere at Anfield on Tuesday is anything like it was in the game vs. Manchester City, Roma will have a tough time focusing on the match. Anything can happen in 90 minutes of football though. The spotlight is likely going to be on Mohamed Salah, who transferred from Roma to Liverpool last summer and quickly became the brightest star on the team. Salah is on track to break the club goalscoring record in his very first season.
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The estimated market valuations of the two teams, according to Transfermarkt, are:
Liverpool: €548m
Roma: €388.9m
The most valuable players on the Liverpool squad are Mohamed Salah (€80m) and Sadio Mane (€60m), while Roma have two jewels in Radja Nainggolan (€45m) and the goalkeeper Alisson (€45m).
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Let's see how things play out on Tuesday. All suspensions have been lifted for the final stretch of the tournament. Will Edin Dzeko and Co. be able to silence the Anfield crowd, or are we going to see a Liverpool show?
This could be an epic match. Enjoy it everyone!
