Roma vs Braga Preview:
Possible starting lineups:
Roma:
Svilar; Mancini, Hermoso, Ndicka; Abdulhmaid, Le Fee, Paredes, Zalewski; Pellegrini, Pisilli; Shomurodov
Braga:
Matheus; Ferreira, Niakate, Arrey-Mbi; Fernandes, Carvalho, Moutinho, Gomez; Horta, Bruma; Ouazzani
Roma will welcome Braga to Stadio Olimpico on Thursday evening. Both teams are trying to stay inside 24th place, so the points from this match are extremely important. The Giallorossi are in poor form, but they beat Lecce on Saturday. It's their only victory since October. The bad atmosphere is the main reason for the poor results. The crisis started when the club officials decided to sack Daniele de Rossi, coach loved by the fans. His successor Ivan Juric was not supported by the fans and it was just a question of time when he will leave. Two weeks ago he was finally replaced by Claudio Ranieri. The 73-year-old tactician had a sloppy start. In the first game he lost 1:0 to Napoli, then played a 2:2 draw with Tottenham in Europe League and then lost 2:0 to Atalanta. Last weekend he secured the first victory, beating 4:1 Lecce. Ranieri has the majority of his players available, but also has three injury worries. Bryan Cristante and Zeki Celik are definitely sidelined, while the Ukraine striker Artem Dovbyk is rated as doubtful due to illness.
Braga have seven points and they need few more to secure the knock-out phase. The Portuguese outfit have registered two victories, one draw and two defeats. Most of the points (6) were earned at home, where Braga managed to beat Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hoffenheim. The away form isn't at the same level, though a draw at Elfsborg should be respected. The domestic results are solid, Braga have one victory and one draw on the last two matches in Primeira. They beat AVS and shared the points with Estoril. Maybe it is correct to say Braga dropped two points. They had two-goal advantage thanks to Bruma's brace, but conceded twice in the finish of the match. Coach Carlos Carvalhal is feeling some pressure as Braga are fifth on the table. The fans are used to see Big-three teams (Benfica, Porto and Sporting) above them, but not Santa Clara. However, Braga now must switch the focus to Europe League. Carvalhal has two injury issues ahead of this match as Paulo Oliveira and Rodrigo Zalazar are struggling with calf and muscular problem respectively.
Roma vs Braga Prediction:
I think Roma are able to collect three points from this match. Ranieri had a sloppy start, but wait. First of all, the draw with Tottenham in London is definitely a good result. Second, the defeats came against Napoli and Atalanta, two of the best Serie A teams. With all respect, Braga are not strong like the previously mentioned teams. In addition, Braga have lost both of their two prior meetings with Roma, 2:0 away and 3:1 at home in the 2020-21 season of UEFA Europa League. I expect the mini-series to continue.
Roma vs Braga Pick: Roma to win @ 1.72 with
Pinnacle