AS Roma, Barcelona missing key players for Champions League quarterfinals

AS Roma, Barcelona missing key players for Champions League quarterfinals

By ROBERT MILLWARD, AP Soccer Writer Mar 31, 2:13 pm EDT

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Francesco Totti will be missing when AS Roma faces Manchester United in the Champions League quarterfinals, and FC Barcelona may struggle to beat Schalke without Lionel Messi, Deco and maybe Samuel Eto’o and Ronaldinho.

With the four English teams in the last eight, Barcelona and Roma will be playing with depleted squads Tuesday in the first leg.

Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool all won their Premier League games over the weekend. Barcelona, however, lost to Real Betis 3-2 and Roma could only get a 1-1 draw with Cagliari, where Totti scored but then tore a muscle in his left thigh.

“The team loses in percentage terms for the extraordinary things he’s capable of,” Roma coach Luciano Spalletti said Monday. “But I have a lot of confidence that the team will assume the responsibility of picking up the slack, just as they’ve done in the past when we’ve been without our captain.”

Totti’s absence will boost a Manchester United team which outplayed Aston Villa 4-0 Saturday and holds a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League standings. Cristiano Ronaldo took his overall tally for the season to 35 goals and set up two for Wayne Rooney and one for Carlos Tevez.

“Roma is going to be a massive game for us and we prepared the right way with the win against Villa,” said Rooney, whose team has a plus-53 goal difference in the Premier League. “To be at this club, with the football we play at times, is brilliant. It’s something every player would want to be a part of.”

There will be heavy security at the game because of violence that flared when the two teams met at the Stadio Olimpico last season.

At full strength and on form, Barcelona would be confident of beating Schalke, even in Germany. But coach Frank Rijkaard is again unable to field the injured Messi and Deco, while Eto’o could be sidelined with a left foot injury and Ronaldinho had missed four straight games with a foot problem.

Barcelona, which conceded three goals in 15 minutes after leading Betis 2-0, dropped to third place and trails Real Madrid by seven points in the Spanish league.

“We feel ashamed in a football sense. We cannot explain it. Again we have allowed ourselves to lose … in an incredible way,” Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernandez said. “We have to change our game quickly and think of Schalke.”

England has the most teams in the quarterfinals, but not all of them can advance to the semifinals.

Arsenal and Liverpool face each other at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday, when Chelsea visits Turkish league leader Fenerbahce.

Chelsea is the nearest chaser to United in the league after edging Middlesbrough 1-0, will fly to Istanbul hoping that sick midfielder Frank Lampard and injured goalkeeper Petr Cech will be able to play.

“Lampard was very sick and he didn’t even come to the training ground,” Chelsea manager Avram Grant said. “If he can be available, we will take him on the plane and we will see about Petr Cech at the same time.”

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