Chelsea

Chelsea boss Antonio Conte: "It is a big opportunity but Roma are a very good team and it will be tough.

"They are well organised with very many good players, Edin Dzeko is one. The only problem is playing three games in a week with the same players, you always risk injury doing that but it is the same in every country.

"David Luiz is in midfield, we only have two available."

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Roma have never won an away game against English opposition in the Champions League (D2 L6). They’ve also never kept a clean sheet in those eight games.

Juventus are only in third as it stands but fear not Juve fans - coach Massimiliano Allegri has reached the knockout stages in each of his seven campaigns as manager in the Champions League. He was beaten finalist in two of the last three seasons with Juventus.

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Paulinho and Gerard Deulofeu are the other former Premier League players alongside Luis Suarez and Gerard Pique in the Barcelona line-up.

Sergi Roberto and Lucas Digne are on full-back duty for the hosts, coming in for Nelson Semedo and Jordi Alba who played in the 1-1 draw against Atletico Madrid.

It is pretty rainy out in Catalonia.

Juliette Ferrington
BBC Radio 5 live

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We’re up in the gods tonight, one row from the last one in the stand right at the very back.

Hopefully Denno’s glasses can focus from distance and through the rain that is teeming down.

James Horncastle
European football writer

From spring 2016 to the end of last season, Radja Nainggolan hit 20 goals from midfield for Roma. He had scored just 18 times in his previous 10 years of club football.

The transformation is, in Nainggolan's own words, "the invention of Luciano Spalletti" who, shortly after returning for a second spell in charge of Roma, persuaded Miralem Pjanic and Nainggolan to swap positions.

It meant Belgium's rough diamond played further up the pitch in a role you'd usually associate with a number 10. But as Nainggolan explained to Il Romanista: "I'm not a trequartista. The players who tend to play there are like Ronaldinho."

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Spalletti's genius came in recognising the value of having a ball-winner of Nainggolan's predatory instincts so close to goal. He tried something similar a decade ago with Simone Perrotta, who spent most of his career with Roma and won the World Cup with Italy in 2006.

But with Nainggolan the results were even more spectacular. Spalletti talked about Nainggolan as "the evolution of the species" in football and he wasn't referring to tattoos, mohawks and shaved eyebrows.

Asked how much the 29-year-old might be worth, Spalletti had no doubts. "As much as Pogba," he said, which in hindsight was maybe a bad thing, because Spalletti wanted Nainggolan every bit as much as Antonio Conte when he moved to Inter Milan in the summer.

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At 18 years and 52 days, Benfica keeper Mile Svilar is the youngest goalkeeper to play in the Champions League breaking the record of Iker Casillas (18-118).

Whatever happened to him?

Tottenham showed they "can handle" playing at the highest level, striker Harry Kane said after his team took a big stride towards the Champions League knockout phase with a point at Real Madrid last night .

Spurs made the 12-time European champions fight back for a 1-1 draw at the Bernabeu on Tuesday.

The Premier League side led when Kane's clever run forced Madrid defender Raphael Varane to divert Serge Aurier's right-wing cross into his own net.

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola felt his side's 2-1 Champions League win over Napoli was a "perfect" performance against a side he rates as one of the best he has ever faced.

And Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp said it was "nice to write a piece of history" as the Reds thrashed Slovenian side Maribor 7-0 to record the biggest away win by an English team in the history of the European Cup.

Just the 786 games and 307 goals for Roma...

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This is the first ever meeting of the two sides.

Are you surprised to hear that Luis Suarez has scored only one goal in his last 10 Champions League games (v PSG in March)?

I was.

Juliette Ferrington
BBC Radio 5 live

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It’s a wet night and confidence isn’t high amongst some of the Benfica fans and journalists I’ve been talking to outside. One told me “It’ll be hard for Benfica - this is not a good season until now and there is a problem with mentality. Our hope is that Mourinho is okay and comfortable with two victories, and he has a new game this weekend in the Premier League. This is our hope. It will be hard but there is a little hope.”

The top text in our inbox is an absolute cracker - no idea what on earth it relates to but a bad day all round.

James, you'd make a very poor spy.

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Benfica had a shocker last time out - a 5-0 thumping at Basel which was their heaviest defeat in the Champions League.

Manchester United handed out a thumping of their own - 4-1 in Moscow.

Thomas Hollern: Atletico very poor tonight, Europa league beckons. Chelsea and Roma must be rubbing their hands watching this performance

You can get in touch with us by texting in to 81111 (UK Only) or tweeting us at #bbcfootball

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Two final appearances in the last four seasons, but Atletico Madrid have been confounded by 10-man Qarabag in Baku.

It is the first point that the Azerbaijani champions have ever won in the Champions League and they did it without Dino Ndlovu who copped a second yellow card for diving in the 75th minute.

At the halfway stage in Group C, Atletico have taken only two points.

Lots of work to do for Diego Simeone's side.

Ian Dennis and Phil Neville are in Portugal to bring you commentary on BBC Radio 5 live - you can hear from them below.

BBC Sport app users may need to follow the link to view the content.

Alistair Bruce-Ball
BBC Radio 5 live

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And this is what it's all about - the European Cup.

Chelsea were the last English team to win it back in 2012 and Antonio Conte is yet to win it as a manager although he only had two cracks at it with Juventus before he left to take over the national team.

This campaign has started very well and if Chelsea beat Roma tonight then they will be in an excellent position to qualify for the knockout stages with a trip to Qarabag still to come.

Chelsea

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Alvaro Morata returns from a hamstring injury for Chelsea, with Michy Batshuayi dropping to the bench.

Davide Zappacosta is in for the injured Victor Moses, as the Blues make three changes to the side that lost to Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Andreas Christensen is the other player to be recalled, with Willian among the Chelsea substitutes.

Chelsea XI: Courtois, Azpilicueta, Christensen, Cahill, David Luiz, Zappacosta, Bakayoko, Fabregas, Alonso, Hazard, Morata.

Roma XI: Alisson, Peres, Fazio, Jesus, Kolarov, Nainggolan, Gonalons, Strootman, Gerson, Dzeko, Perotti.

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As expected, skipper Scott Brown returns from injury to take his place in the midfield engine room and there's an extra boost with Stuart Armstrong also fit again.

However, Jozo Simunovic is missing from central defence as he struggles with the recurrence of a hamstring problem. That means a bit of a reshuffle at the back, with Cristian Gamboa in at right-back for just his second appearance of the season. That means Mikael Lustig moves into the middle to partner centre-half Dedryck Boyata.

You can follow that game with out colleagues at BBC Scotland here.

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Jerome Boateng had considered quitting Bayern Munich but says returning coach Jupp Heynckes has brought fun back to training before hosting Celtic.

Heynckes, 72, came out of retirement after Carlo Ancelotti's sacking.

"I decided to stay here and I didn't want to just run away after a bad spell," said Germany defender Boateng.

"You can see from the way we are training now that the team is having fun again and that the trainer has an intuition for things."