Olympique Lyon will visit AS Roma at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome , Italy on Wednesday February 21st for the first leg of their fixture in the knock out stage for the UEFA Champions League starting at 2:45pm EST.
AS Roma will be the host for their first knockout round game when they play against Olympique Lyonnais . Roma aims to accomplish more than ever before in the UEFA Champions League. After losing the 1984 European Champion Clubs' Cup final to Liverpool FC, Roma's best presentations in the re-schemed competition came when they made the last 16 in 2001/02 and 2002/03 although standing in their way is a Lyon team with a formidable visiting record.
Olympique Lyon has won eight of their last 13 UEFA Champions League away matches. Roma's eight match unbeaten streak at the Stadio Olimpico in European competition is formidable but unlikely to discourage their opponents. Furthermore in the last three seasons the French champions have traveled for the first leg of their last-16 matches and they have prevailed by beating Real Sociedad de Fútbol 1-0, Werder Bremen 3-0 and, last term, PSV Eindhoven 1-0.
Roma finished second in Group D in order to reach this stage. Christian Panucci's 13th minute goal against Valencia CF on December 5th earned the 1-0 victory that qualified the Giallorossi. Roma recorded three wins overall by also beating FC Shakhtar Donetsk 4-0 and Olympiacos CFP 1-0 in Greece . They obtained a home draw with Olympiacos (1-1) but lost to Valencia (1-2) and Shakhtar (0-1).
Olympique out performed the other clubs in the group stage, collecting an unchallenged 14 points to finish atop Group E. A 2-0 home win over Real Madrid CF was the first of four in a row; they beat both FC Steaua Bucuresti and FC Dynamo Kyiv 3-0 and 1-0 at home over Dynamo. This all happened before they finished off with draws against Madrid (2-2) and Steaua (1-1). Alou Diarra's equalizer against Steaua on December 6th maintained an unbeaten record matched only by FC Bayern München.
Roma has recorded two wins, two draws and one loss against French squads. They defeated FC Girondins de Bordeaux home (5-0) and away (2-0) in the 1990/91 UEFA Cup third round but fell off 1-0 on aggregate to AS Monaco FC during the following term's UEFA Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finals. Last season they were held 1-1 in Rome by RC Strasbourg in the UEFA Cup group stage.
Lyon has a good record playing in Italy . They have recorded three victories in five visits. One was beating Roma's local rivals S.S. Lazio 2-0 on their one previous trip to the Stadio Olimpico in the 1995/96 UEFA Cup second round, Florian Maurice and Eric Assadourian were the marksmen
AC Milan's Filippo Inzaghi (88 minutes) and Andriy Shevchenko (90+3) imposed a 3-1 defeat in the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League quarter final second leg which is Lyon’s most recent match on Italian soil. This game was full of heartache as late goals came in to devastate their chances of moving forward in the tourney.
As Liverpool FC Manager Gérard Houllier has happy memories of the Stadio Olimpico, he led his team to a 2-0 victory over Roma in the UEFA Cup fourth round on February 15, 2001 when en route to winning the trophy.
I like the French club for this game. Sportbet.com has Olympique at +165 and Roma +120 with a +200 draw . This game sounds like an over bet to me and Over 2 -140 seems all right, the Under 2 Even could also be the pick. I can’t say at this moment but I choose over. I do love Lyon PK +110 on the Asian Line because PK-150 just won’t do.
