Arsenal, Chelsea into Champions League last 16

Embattled Roma’s “desire and determination” will be key when they host BATE Borisov in a Champions League clash on Wednesday in a tight Group E, according Radja Nainggolan.

While Roma would also qualify if they draw and Leverkusen fail to beat Barcelona, a Leverkusen win coupled with a Roma draw or defeat would see the Bundesliga side advance.

“I am not happy, but things will get better”, Roma president James Pallotta said on his arrival Saturday from the United States.

Nainggolan said: “Now we must think positive. Obviously we didn’t perform well today, but now we should enjoy this moment”. “We kept going, we heard Leverkusen were not winning, so we have achieved the first target of the season”, he added.

On that occasion Roma were startled by the start of the Bate side who went 3-0 up only for Roma to drag them back but couldnt draw level losing the game 3-2.

The Former Napoli player Carmine Gautieri believes that the returning of Mohamed Salah and Gervinho will be crucial for Roma when they play against Napoli next Sunday.

Minutes after the restart Miralem Pjanic found Edin Dzeko with a short pass just outside the area but an alert Sergei Chernik was out quickly to block with his legs what was Roma’s best chance thus far.

It finally jolted the Olimpico into song, although Roma never really managed to lift a crowd of only 29,489 – many fans still staying away amid an ongoing boycott over recently-introduced security measures.

Victory would have guaranteed Roma a place in the knockout rounds as Group E runners-up behind Barcelona, but they appeared content to play for a draw, banking on Bayer Leverkusen failing to win against Barca at the BayArena.

“These kinds of important qualification matches don’t happen often at this club and we want more of them in the future”.

Chernik came out to intercept a cross for Dzeko and Pjanic’s follow up strike was spectacularly cleared off the line by Nemanja Milunovic. We will have to dream for a long time before we have the chance of coming so close to qualifying again.