Champions League Betting – AS Roma vs. Manchester City

AS Roma (+140) vs. Manchester City (+190) (Draw +250)

A place in the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League is on the line when AS Roma and Manchester City face off tomorrow at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome (2:45 p.m. Eastern).

The Romans are slight favorites to win, listed at +140 in the betting odds; City is at +190 and the draw +250.

Bayern Munich has already qualified for the Round of 16 from Group E, but the other three teams are all still mathematically alive. AS Roma, Manchester City, and CSKA Moscow all have five points and identical records (1W, 2D, 2L).

Roma looks like the favorite to advance, as they play at home and currently hold most of the the tiebreakers with both of Man City and Moscow. Here are the various scenarios:

Roma will advance with a win, no matter what happens between Moscow and Bayern.

In addition, if Moscow loses, Roma will progress with a goalless draw, but not any other type of draw.

Meanwhile, for Man City to advance, CSKA must lose and Man City must either win or draw while scoring at least one goal.

For Roma, the frantic finish that awaits could have been avoided. The Giallorossi led Moscow late in its last fixture, but conceded the tying goal, setting up the complicated scenario set out above.

“Of course we are really down at the moment because we were so close to a spot in the knockout stages. I don’t know how long was left, maybe only 15 seconds, so that makes things even tougher for us. We need to keep our heads up in these sorts of situations and look ahead to our home encounter with Manchester City”, said AS Roma midfielder Seydou Keita after the draw against the Russians.

Man City, meanwhile, must feel like it is on borrowed time already. The team pulled off a miraculous comeback against Bayern Munich on a late by Sergio Aguero to keep its Champions League season alive.

AS Roma has won its last three home games against English Premier League opposition. City has yet to win in Italy in four tries (0W, 2D, 2L).