Champions League - Shakhtar v Roma

After a relatively successful weekend on the football, barring two epic miscalculations of how good Manchester United can be without Rio Ferdinand and Nemajana Vidic, and maybe away from home. They’re still favorites for the title but they’re there to be shot at without those two and Bolton may not be pushovers at the weekend.

Jadson's super strike against Roma

Moving onto a hopefully more successful Champions League week than last time, and Shakatar Donetsk attempt to make the quarter finals of the Champions League after recording a deserved 3-2 away win at the Stadio Flaminico.

 In Italy, Simone Perrotta's header deflected in off Razvan Rat for the Roma to gain the lead, but by half-time they were 3-1 down thanks to goals by the excellent Jadson, Douglas Costa and Luiz Adriano, and this would be a forgone conclusion had it not been for Jeremy Menzez’s superb strike.

Shakhtar have only played once and lost, going down one nil to Karpaty Lviv in their domestic league, but that was away from home and the result can be safely ignored.

Winning in Ukraine will be much harder than beating
 Leece for Roma

Since the first leg, Roma have fired Caludio Ranieri but the appointment of Vincenzo Montella has surprised quite a few and does look rushed given that he’s got no real coaching experience to speak of apart from a spell with the youth side.

And it’s not like their form has improved an awful lot since. A hard fought win against Bologna was then screwed up by a dramatic defeat to Genoa. Roma had actually gone 3-0 up against them only to concede no fewer than four goals in the second half, highlighting defensive weaknesses.

Those same weaknesses were again evident when they managed to blow a clear tow lead against Parma as Amauri turned the game on its head with a brace in the second half and Massimo Paci was sent off ten minutes from full-time.

Shakhtar may well have won this tie in Rome but can be backed again to win at home. The Ukranian’s haven’t lost at home in the Champions League this season and Roma barely deserved to win at Leece last weekend, and are very much there for the taking away from home.

Advice

1 pt Shakhtar to beat Roma (10/11 Paddy Power)