AS Roma V Club Brugge KV PRESS KIT
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AS Roma v Club Brugge KV PRESS KIT Olimpico, Rome Thursday, 23 February 2006 - 21:00 local time Round of 32 - Matchday 9 AS Roma take a one-goal advantage into second leg of their UEFA Cup Round of the 32 tie against Club Brugge KV at the Stadio Olimpico - a significant deficit for the Belgian visitors bearing in mind Roma's majestic form in 2006. Despite being reduced to ten men for the majority of the match at the Jan Breydelstadion, Luciano Spalletti's side won 2-1 courtesy of an own goal from Günther Vanaudenaerde and a Simone Perrotta strike either side of Javier Portillo's second-half equaliser. Ominously, the Giallorossi, who began the new year with a stunning sequence of victories, have never lost to Belgian opposition. •It was all very different for Roma in the first half of the season, and they needed a 3-1 Matchday 5 victory against FC Basel 1893 to book their place in the UEFA Cup knockout stages after an inconsistent Group E campaign. It started off well; Leandro Cufré's late strike earning a 2-1 victory against Trømso IL in Norway, but their progress was slowed by a 1-1 draw against RC Strasbourg. A 3-1 defeat at FK Crvena Zvezda left them on the brink of elimination before their final-day win against Basel. •Club Brugge were always up against it after being drawn alongside FC Bayern München and Juventus in UEFA Champions League Group A. They lost to each team by a single goal in their first two fixtures before back-to-back victories against SK Rapid Wien cemented third place and a UEFA Cup consolation. A narrow defeat by Juve followed but Jan Ceulemans' side ended the campaign on a high, earning a battling 1-1 draw against Bayern. •Club Brugge and Roma have met once before in UEFA club competition when they were paired in the third round of the 1975/76 UEFA Cup – and it was the Belgian team that came out on top. Julien Cools scored the only goal of the first leg at the Jan Breydelstadion, before Raoul Lambert sealed their passage to the quarter-finals with the only goal of the game in Italy. Club Brugge then saw off AC Milan, eventually going on to reach the final where they were narrowly defeated by Liverpool FC. •Two years later the Belgians reached another final, in the European Champion Clubs' Cup, after overcoming a one-goal first-leg deficit against Juventus. Alfons Bastijns's early goal forced extra time, paving the way for René Vandereycken to steal victory with four minutes of the additional half-hour remaining. Liverpool again awaited in the showpiece and, like two years earlier, Club Brugge were denied. •Now coach at the Jan Breydelstadion, Ceulemans was part of the Club Brugge team that lost 1-0 on aggregate to AC Milan in the second round of the 1990/91 European Champion Clubs' Cup. That proved the start of a barren run against Serie A teams that has seen the Belgian outfit win just once in six games, losing four. •By contrast, Roma have not lost to Belgian opposition in nine games since 1975, uefa.com 1/16 AS Roma v Club Brugge KV PRESS KIT including victories home and away against RSC Anderlecht in the second round of the 1990/91 UEFA Cup. The Giallorossi went on to reach the final where they lost against FC Internazionale Milano. Club facts: Roma •Roma are making their eighth consecutive appearance in UEFA competitions and their tenth in eleven seasons. This is their 22nd season in UEFA club competitions following their introduction in the 1969/70 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup at the first round stage. •Roma endured a torrid time in last season's UEFA Champions League having qualified automatically for the competition following their second-placed finish to AC Milan in Serie A. Their opening match against FC Dynamo Kyiv ended early as match official Anders Frisk was hit with an object thrown from a spectator in the crowd at the Stadio Olimpico and the match was subsequently abandoned, UEFA awarding a 3-0 win to the Ukrainian visitors. •The Italian club were forced to play subsequent matches against Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Real Madrid CF behind closed doors, matches that ended in a 1-1 draw and a 3-0 loss respectively for the home side. Away from home, Roma lost all three matches by two-goal margins and exited the competition at the end of the six-match group phase having finished bottom of the table. •Roma have appeared in two finals in UEFA competition – the 1983/84 European Champion Clubs' Cup and the 1990/91 UEFA Cup. In the former, the Italian side were denied victory in a penalty shootout in their own Stadio Olimpico by Liverpool FC after the two sides drew 1-1 after 120 minutes. Phil Neal opened the scoring for Liverpool, but Roma equalised shortly before the interval through Roberto Pruzzo, only for the English side to prevail on penalties. •Seven years later, Roma met FC Internazionale Milano in the UEFA Cup final, but again ended on the losing side. Inter won the first leg 2-0 in Milan with goals from Lothar Matthäus and Nicola Berti, a deficit that Roma were unable to overcome despite winning the return leg a fortnight later thanks to Ruggiero Rizzitelli's 81st-minute goal. 2005/06 season •UEFA Cup first round: Roma entered the 2005/06 UEFA Cup as losing Coppa Italia finalists as the winners, FC Internazionale Milano, had already qualified for the UEFA Champions League by virtue of their third-placed finish in the Italian Serie A. They accounted for Aris Thessaloniki FC in the first round of the competition, winning 5-1 at home before settling for a scoreless draw in Greece. The scorers in the victory were Alberto Aquilani (1), Christian Panucci (22, 43), Vincenzo Montella (27) and Francesco Totti (53). •UEFA Cup group stage: Away to Tromsø IL in the opening matchday of the 2005/06 UEFA Cup group stage Roma were pushed to the limits as a Leandro Cufré goal five minutes from time secured a 2-1 win for the Italian side. Roma had initially taken the lead after 35 minutes through Samuel Kuffour only for Ole Martin Årst to equalise seven uefa.com 2/16 AS Roma v Club Brugge KV PRESS KIT minutes later. •By the end of Matchday 3, RC Strasbourg advanced to the knockout stages of the UEFA Cup after taking a point from their engagement away to Roma. The French side looked on course to gain their third consecutive win of the group phase when Habib Bellaid (51) put them ahead early in the second half, only for Antonio Cassano to put an end to their 100 per cent record with 17 minutes remaining. •FK Crvena Zvezda resurrected their UEFA Cup campaign with a 3-1 win against Roma on Matchday 4 which left their Group E rivals' future in the balance. Shabani Nonda (23) had given the visitors the lead but Nikola Žigić (37) deservedly hit back before halftime before Milan Purović (86) made it 21 and Žigić bagged his second. There was still time for Cassano to miss a penalty for Roma, for whom a draw would have been enough to ensure their progress. • However, the Romans struck back on the final matchday as they cruised into the knockout stages with a 31 win against FC Basel 1893 at the Stadio Olimpico. Goals from Rodrigo Taddei (12), Totti (45) and Nonda (49) assured Roma of second place behind Strasbourg with Basel back in third. Key facts • Including their round of 32 first leg match, Roma have played 159 matches in UEFA competition. The majority of those matches have come in the UEFA Cup where Roma have played 91 times with 50 wins, 15 draws and 26 losses. In that time, the Italian side have scored 146 times with 79 goals conceded. Club facts: Club Brugge • Club Brugge were involved in the UEFA Champions League group stage for the third time in four years, but the Belgian champions have yet to make it beyond the group stage having finished in third place each of those seasons – an outcome that resulted in their switch to the UEFA Cup knockout stages. • Their proudest European moment came in their qualification for the 1977/78 European Champion Clubs' Cup final where a solitary goal from Kenny Dalglish provided Liverpool FC with victory at London's Wembley stadium. 2005/06 season • UEFA Champions League qualifying: Club Brugge won the Belgian first division by three points from RSC Anderlecht, thus giving them a place in the third qualifying round where they required a penalty shootout to eventually overcome Norwegian side Vålerenga IF. Trailing 10 from the opening leg in Oslo, the Belgian champions needed a Boško Balaban goal eleven minutes from time to force the tie into extra time. No further goals were scored until the penalty shootout, which Club Brugge won 43 with Sven Vermant, Michael Klukowski, Jonathan Blondel and Balaban all on target. • UEFA Champions League group stage: Club Brugge were winless after the opening two matchdays having lost 21 at home against Juventus and then 10 away uefa.com 3/16 AS Roma v Club Brugge KV PRESS KIT against FC Bayern München. • But the Belgian side then recorded backtoback wins against SK Rapid Wien. The only goal of the game on Matchday 3 at Vienna's Ernst Happel stadium came 15 minutes from time through Croatian striker Balaban.