Roma stirred by Shakhtar reunion
Monday, January 3, 2011
Article summary
AS Roma will be looking to reprise the form they produced in their final three group games when they welcome a FC Shakhtar Donetsk side who are making their first last-16 appearance.
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AS Roma will be looking to carry the momentum provided by a three-game unbeaten UEFA Champions League run into a round of 16 tie against FC Shakhtar Donetsk, who are in this stage for the first time after five previous qualifying attempts ended in failure.
Previous meetings
• When the teams met in the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League group stage, Roma won their home game 4-0 – Rodrigo Taddei, Francesco Totti, Daniele De Rossi and David Pizarro all scoring in the final 24 minutes – while Shakhtar were 1-0 victors in Ukraine.
• The teams for the Stadio Olimpico game on 12 September 2006 were:
Roma: Doni, Panucci, Ferrari, Chivu, Tonetto, De Rossi, Aquilani (Pizarro 62), Taddei, Perrotta, Mancini (Cassetti 87), Totti (Montella 80).
Shakhtar: Shutkov, Srna, Hübschman, Lewandowski, Raţ, Matuzalém (Gai 72, Jadson 81), Tymoshchuk, Duljaj, Marica, Elano, Brandão
(Aghahowa 63).
• Roma faced FC Dynamo Kyiv in the 2004/05 and 2007/08 UEFA Champions League group stage, losing at home (3-0, match forfeited) and away (2-0) in the first campaign before turning the tables three years later, winning 2-0 in Rome and 4-1 in Kyiv.
• Shakhtar's defeat of these opponents in 2006 was their only win in ten UEFA Champions League games against Italian sides. In the same Rome stadium they lost 5-1 to S. S. Lazio in the 2000/01 first group stage, one of seven defeats in their eight UEFA Champions League meetings with other Serie A clubs.
Match background
• In their home games in Group E, Roma overcame CFR 1907 Cluj (2-1) and FC Bayern München (3-2) either side of a surprise defeat by FC Basel 1893 (1-3).
• Shakhtar's first away game in the group ended in a 3-0 win at SC Braga and although a 5-1 defeat followed at Arsenal FC, they also managed to win 3-0 in Belgrade against FK Partizan.
• Mircea Lucescu has taken teams to Rome on two previous occasions for European ties, the aforementioned 4-0 loss with Shakhtar and a 1-1 draw in the 2001/02 UEFA Champions League second group stage when in charge of Galatasaray AŞ. After ten away ties in Italy he is still awaiting his first victory; his teams have drawn five and lost five.
Team ties
• Lucescu and Claudio Ranieri were on opposite sides in a total of ten fixtures in Serie A and Serie B. The Roma coach had five wins to Lucescu's three. They last met in the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League group stage when Lucescu's Beşiktaş JK were 2-0 victors away against Ranieri's Chelsea FC, who triumphed by the same score in the return.
• Bogdan Lobonţ became the first-choice goalkeeper for FC Rapid Bucureşti after Lucescu took over as head coach in 1997. Lobonţ was still at the club when Lucescu returned for a second spell in 1999/2000.
• Lobonţ played with Rãzvan Raţ at Rapid between 1997 and 2000; the pair are also team-mates in the Romanian national team. They faced an Italy side including De Rossi and Simone Perrotta in a UEFA EURO 2008 group fixture in Zurich which ended 1-1. Marco Borriello was an unused substitute.
• Eduardo was in the Arsenal FC team who lost 1-0 away to Roma in March 2009 in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg but won 7-6 on penalties after a 1-1 aggregate draw. The Croatian international's spot kick was saved by Doni, Arsenal's only unsuccessful attempt.
• Adriano scored the second goal in FC Internazionale Milano's 2-0 win in Donetsk in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round first leg in August 2005. He also played in a 1-1 draw in Italy; Pizarro came on as a substitute in both legs.
• Lucescu, who had coaching spells in Serie A with AC Pisa 1909, Brescia Calcio, AC Reggiana 1919 and Inter, locked horns with Roma on nine occasions. His record was W3 D3 L3, two of those wins coming in Rome.
