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Roma logo
Champions League | Group Stage
Sep 16, 2015 at 7.45pm UK
 
Barcelona logo

1-1

Florenzi (31')
FT(HT: 1-1)
Suarez (21')

Rudi Garcia: 'Barcelona not just about Lionel Messi'

Roma boss Rudi Garcia insists that his team do not have a specific plan to stop Barcelona's Lionel Messi in Wednesday's Champions League Group E opener.

Roma boss Rudi Garcia has insisted that his team will not just focus their attention on attempting to stop Barcelona's Lionel Messi in Wednesday's Champions League clash.

Barca, who won their fifth European Cup last season, will travel to Rome to take on the Italian runners-up in their Group E opener tomorrow evening.

Garcia has said that while Messi is a serious threat, the plan to stop the Catalan outfit involves the entire team and not just their dangers in the final third.

"There's no anti-Messi plan, just as there isn't one to stop Luis Suarez or Andres Iniesta," Garcia told reporters.

"You deal with that threat as a team, both in attack and defence. We don't plan on defending for the whole game. We know there will be times when we have to dig in but we also have to use the ball well to give the opposition a problem.

"We're running out of superlatives to describe Messi. He's one of - if not - the best in the world."

The last time that these two teams met in the group stages of the Champions League was back in 2002. The points were shared in a 1-1 draw in Spain, before Roma won 3-0 on their own patch.

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Group A

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Germany Germany32107
Q Switzerland Switzerland31205
3 Hungary Hungary31023
4 Scotland flag Scotland30121

Group B

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Spain Spain33009
Q Italy Italy31114
3 Croatia Croatia30212
4 Albania national flag Albania30121

Group C

TeamPWDLPTS
Q England flag England31205
Q Denmark Denmark30303
Q Slovenia Slovenia30303
4 Serbia Serbia30212

Group D

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Austria Austria32016
Q France France31205
Q Netherlands Netherlands31114
4 Poland Poland30121

Group E

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Romania Romania31114
Q Belgium Belgium31114
Q Slovakia Slovakia31114
4 Ukraine Ukraine31114

Group F

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Portugal Portugal32016
Q Turkey Turkey32016
Q Georgia Georgia31114
4 Czech Republic Czech Republic30121


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