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How Juventus, Napoli, Roma, and Inter will perform in their Champions League groups

By John Vaccaro

A board displays the result of the draw for UEFA Champions League football tournament at The Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on August 30, 2018. (Photo by Valery HACHE / AFP) (Photo credit should read VALERY HACHE/AFP/Getty Images)
A board displays the result of the draw for UEFA Champions League football tournament at The Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on August 30, 2018. (Photo by Valery HACHE / AFP) (Photo credit should read VALERY HACHE/AFP/Getty Images) /
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AS Roma’s defender Federico Fazio of Argentina (L) celebrates after scoring with his teammates during the Italian Serie A football match AC Milan vs Roma on August 31, 2018 at the ‘San Siro Stadium’ in Milan. (Photo by MARCO BERTORELLO / AFP) (Photo credit should read MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP/Getty Images)
AS Roma’s defender Federico Fazio of Argentina (L) celebrates after scoring with his teammates during the Italian Serie A football match AC Milan vs Roma on August 31, 2018 at the ‘San Siro Stadium’ in Milan. (Photo by MARCO BERTORELLO / AFP) (Photo credit should read MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP/Getty Images) /

Roma- Group G

Speaking of Italian teams struggling to start the season, Roma hasn’t resembled the team we saw make the semifinal last year at all. Eusebio Di Francesco has struggled to find a starting lineup that can convincingly win matches (or win them at all in the last couple of weeks). EDF has started a different lineup in each match and the only one that really made any sense was the lineup for week 1. If it weren’t for a late golazo for Edin Dzeko, Roma could have only 2 points from 3 matches to start the year. Luckily for them, the Champions League draw was pretty kind to them.

Roma fans must have been pretty worried when they found out that they would be in the same group as Real Madrid, but things turned around pretty quickly from there. The next two teams drawn into their group were CSKA Moscow and Viktoria Plzen. These are decent sides, but simply aren’t at the same level as Roma and Real.

Roma will need to be just about perfect to win this group, but they should be able to claim 2nd with relative ease. Moscow and Plzen both lack the world class talents that Roma can offer. Justin Kluivert and Cengiz Under should thrive on the wings against both of these squads, delivering plenty of crosses for Edin Dzeko to put up an impressive goal tally. Di Francesco will need to patch up the holes in this leaky defense, but at the end of the day it would be very surprising if Roma lost to either of these teams.

Things get a little bit more complicated for Roma against Real. Roma opens the campaign against Real, which doesn’t give them very much time to fix a defense that has allowed 53 shots in 3 matches. Roma is probably going to struggle with Real in a couple of weeks, meaning that they’ll need to win the home leg to finish first. Even with a few months to get that defense sorted out, the incredible Real midfield will still be able to dictate enough of the return leg to at least secure a draw. Roma will have to settle for second place and round of 16 match against a group winner.

Prediction: 13 points, 2nd place

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