AS Roma VS Real Madrid

Gasperini has brought the signature full-pressing system he perfected during his Atalanta tenure to Roma, with his preferred 3-4-2-1 formation now fully in place. The team has made an impressively solid start to the Serie A campaign, notching 4 wins and 2 draws in the first 6 rounds without conceding a single goal, and currently sits third in the league standings. However, Roma are hit by critical absences across three lines for this fixture. First-choice goalkeeper Svilar suffered a stress fracture in his toe during training and will be sidelined for at least a month, leaving Golini to take over the goal — a player who has not featured in any official competitive match for nearly two years. Team captain Cristante is also out with a knee injury, so the midfield will have to be formed by the pairing of De Jong and Manu Kone. The lowered fault tolerance of their backline unit is the biggest hidden concern for the side. Looking at their recent head-to-head history, Roma have recorded 3 wins, 2 draws and 5 losses across the last 10 meetings, which puts them at a slight overall disadvantage.