Roma have failed to win their four games since, which includes a 6-1 thumping away to Barcelona in their previous Champions League group game.
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Roma have received a welcome boost with the news that forward Gervinho’s thigh injury is not as bad as was initially thought.
Although a draw could also see Rudi Garcia’s embattled Serie A side through, BATE can cause a major upset and qualify for the knockout phase if they beat Roma and Bayer Leverkusen fail to beat Barcelona in Germany.
“I’m just thinking about winning and tomorrow we will win – there’s nothing else we can say or do”. Good football comes after that.
“The BATE match is like a derby – it’s a match we have to win”, began Garcia.
“We must have a fierce desire”.
But, after undergoing an injury scan, it has now been revealed that Gervinho could feature against BATE Borisov in the Champions League on Wednesday, provided he passes a late fitness test.
Bate come into this game knowing that a win can put them in the knockout stages if they can manage it. Bate have played well over this European campaign and Rodionev, Signeivch will take the game to Roma if they can get the chances.
“We can not – and we do not want to – rely on a draw between Bayer Leverkusen and Barcelona, that’s not the right attitude”. Roma already got shocked by Bate once when beaten by the Belarussians 3-2 in the second game of the Group stages. But in the high-octane atmosphere of a Champions League decider, who scores first could be key.
Roma remain winless in the absence of Gervinho and Egyptian winger Mohamed Salah, and yesterday had to settle for a share of the spoils after Maxi Lopez levelled Miralem Pjanic’s opener from the penalty spot at the death.
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Salah was injured in Roma’s derby against Lazio when the Giallorossi won 2-0 and was expected to be ruled out for 4-6 weeks. Roma’s failure to reach the last 16 for the second consecutive year would cost them millions, a threat the club’s American president James Pallotta seemed to underline with a curt response on Saturday: “I’m not satisfied”.
