Preview: Roma Women vs. Galatasaray Women

Roma Women and Galatasaray Women will only have pride to play for when they go head-to-head in Tuesday’s Women’s Champions League encounter.

The Italian side are guaranteed to finish in third spot in Group A, while the Turkish giants will finish bottom irrespective of the result on matchday six.

Match preview

© Imago

Roma have suffered a second straight group-stage exit after a positive start gave way to a run of poor form in the UWCL.

The Italian champions kicked off the main draw with wins over Wolfsburg and Galatasaray, before they lost home and away games against record European champions Lyon.

Roma then turned their attention to last week’s trip to Germany, knowing that they had to avoid losing by two goals or more if they were to take their quarter-final bid down to the final matchday.

Alessandro Spugna‘s side looked to be in a promising position when Valentina Giacinti equalised just before the hour mark, only for Wolfsburg to move through the gears to rack up five goals to condemn the Giallorosse to a heavy 6-1 defeat, ending their hopes of making the knockout rounds.

While they may have little to play for on Tuesday, Roma will be looking to finish the calendar year with back-to-back victories after they recorded a narrow 2-1 away win in Saturday’s league clash against Napoli.

Meanwhile, Galatasaray have made history in Europe this season, negotiating their way through qualifying to become the first Turkish team to reach the UWCL group stage.

Unfortunately for Galatasaray, they are at risk of going the whole group stage without picking up a point after losing each of their five matches in the main draw.

The Turkish side have found it difficult to cope with their opponents’ attacking talents, having conceded a total of 25 goals, including six in last week’s heavy home defeat against Lyon.

At the opposite end of the pitch, Galatasaray’s only goal of the group stage was scored in October’s 6-1 defeat to Roma in Turkey.

Metin Ulgen have one final chance to pick up a UWCL point, but they certainly have their work cut out after losing five of their previous six competitive away matches, including a 2-1 defeat in Saturday’s league game against ALG Spor.

Roma Women Women’s Champions League form:

Roma Women form (all competitions):

Galatasaray Women Women’s Champions League form:

Galatasaray Women form (all competitions):

© Imago

Roma winger Emilie Haavi is unlikely to be involved after missing the last two competitive matches due to injury.

Evelyne Viens has sat out the last four matches with a muscle injury, and the Canada international is expected to remain sidelined for Tuesday’s fixture.

Meanwhile, Camelia Ceasar is set to replace Isabella Kresche in the Roma goal after dropping down to the bench for Saturday’s league win over Napoli.

As for the visitors, they are expected to be without the services of forward Benan Altintas, who is currently sidelined with an injury issue.

Habib Diallo had to settle for a substitute appearance on matchday five, but she could be given the chance to make her fourth start of the group stage in Tuesday’s away fixture.

Andrea Staskova will be looking to breach the Roma defence again after she scored Galatasaray’s only goal of the group stage in the reverse fixture.

Roma Women possible starting lineup:
Caesar; Thogersen, Linari, Cissoko, Minami; Greggi, Kumagai, Giugliano; Glionna, Dragoni, Giacinti

We say: Roma Women 5-0 Galatasaray Women

Galatasaray have struggled to compete in their first experience of the UWCL group stage, and we think that they could experience another difficult outing in Tuesday’s away fixture, where Roma should showcase their attacking quality to ease to a commanding victory.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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