Italian Cup: Roma vs SampdoriaRematch of the quarterfinals in the Italian Cup will be played tonight at the Olimpico stadium. Roma will start this duel as favourite after they fought a 1:1 draw last Wednesday at Marassi. Romans win the trophy in this not so important competition in the last two year and clearly their ambitions are defending the title although Serie A and the Champions League are the priorities. On the other hand, if we are to judge by the line-up announced by the guests, Mazzari will rest couple of players and the bad boy of Italian football, Antonio Cassano will miss the game against his former club because of back injury.
Romans beat Samp pretty easily in Serie A
If we draw some conclusions from the mentioned duel, played in the second half of November, we would clearly see that back then Sampdoria were much weaker without Cassano and Roma marked a routine victory though the guests were good during the whole game and even seriously threatened Doni couple of times. Roma weren’t brilliant against Palermo either but they have done enough to reach new victory, fourth in a row… Now their appetites grow considering that giallorossi reduced the lead of Inter on only five points. Yet, Spalletti himself said that the second place is realistic and they will hardly manage to measure up with the champion, because in the second part they will be their guests at Meazza. Coach of the hosts won’t take many chances in this game. Juan Mexes and Ferrari are absent which could cause certain problems in the central defense but Panucci is there who will play in tandem with Cassetti. Vucinic will also miss the match but captain Totti will play from the first minute and the power engine of the team , Daniele de Rossi is back in the team. Romans will play to win and try to score as soon as possible to maintain the control although a goalless draw would suit them fine. We will see if they can keep their net clean once again.
Samp are in a positive series though they play much better at home
A point in Torino against Juventus is a great success but honestly a draw was more the result of luck and the clumsiness of Juventus attackers than good play of Mazzari’s team. Cassano was absent in that match too and how important his role in the team is we saw on Saturday against Siena when he scored the only goals in this game and was the only true threat for Manninger. Mazzari has problems in the organization but without Cassano and Montella, Bellucci can hardly do something by himself since Bonazzoli and Caracciollo are not in shape... Besides Cassano and Montella, Sammarco, Palombo and Kalou are absent too. Standard keeper Castelazzi will move to the bench, though Mirante is not a bad reserve, quite the contrary... We should take a look at the form of the guests away. They have a lot of problems in scoring, they won on the opening against Siena and against Catania; they have seven defeats out of ten matches. This is not the right moment for Doriani to travel to Rome because they seemed tired against Siena and insecure and the win was more the result of luck and bad materialization of the guests than good play.
Betting Verdict
We think that Roma will win without problems, their offensive potential should decide because Spalletti will field the strongest line-up Roma weren’t impressive in the last matches but they won without bigger problems; if they lift their play to a higher level the guests could suffer a convincing defeat. The absence of Cassano will once again stop Sampdoria in imposing theirs game of short passes. We don’t see Samp scoring at Olimpico nor can they save their net. They will have problems in the midfield because Palombo is very important player. Roma are great favourites and anything besides a home win would be a surprise.
Our tip: Bet 6 on Home win
Odds 1.5 at
Bookmaker: Gamebookers
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