Montella's Roma left with too much to do
Eyebrows were raised when Roma replaced veteran tactician Claudio Ranieri with 36-year-old former striker Vincenzo Montella following the Tinkerman's abrupt resignation last month after a spectacular 4-3 defeat to Genoa in a match they had led 3-0.
The man known to the Giallorossi faithful as the Little Airplane has made an encouraging start though despite having only previously worked with the club's kids, securing victories in both of his away games to date, no easy task given that they have faced heroic Bologna and improving Lecce.
He's far from overawed by the challenge awaiting him this evening, which is to overturn a daunting 3-2 deficit against Shakthar Donetsk at the Donbass Arena, where the Ukrainian giants have never lost since making it their home ground in 2009 either, quipping magnificently that "they are a quality team who haven't lost for 60 games, but they are beatable".
Montella believes he has a better squad than opposite number Mircea Lucescu, who has guided his side into the knockout stages for the first time, however against a record like Shakthar's in front of their fans, few fancy Roma to prove their coach right, with odds of [4.3] offered on the visitors.
Instead, the price of [1.98] on the hosts completing a double and continuing a run of 20 successive home triumphs looks appealing, especially as the Italian capital club have lost three of their last four away knockout ties, while Shakthar have already overcome Arsenal 2-1 in the Champions League.
Another wager worth pursuing given the attacking talent on display in Ukraine tonight - such as Jadson, Douglas Costa, Luiz Adriano, Marco Borriello and Mirko Vucinic - is over 2.5 goals at [1.92] as it has been a feature of Roma's last six European encounters. 2-1 Shakthar is a tempting score bet at [10.0].
Shakthar Donetsk v Roma
Kick-off: 7.45pm
Live on Sky Sports 4
Think Roma will complete an unlikely comeback? They are [8.2] to progress...
Published: 8 Mar 2011
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