Hello, and welcome to the final day of Matchday 1! We start off with one of the early kickoffs, one of two long time returnees to the Champions League, in what seems to look like one of the most exciting matchups of the week! This match marks the first time Roma and Fenerbahce ever meet in a competitive match. Fenerbahce, particularly over the summer and previous winter window has experienced a massive overhaul, bringing in big and cult hero European players such as Romelu Lukaku, Vedat Muriqi, Nathan Aké, and the midfield additions of Mattéo Guendouzi and N’Golo Kanté. Roma have also had an active summer window, bringing in the likes of Santiago Castro, fully paying to bring in Donyell Malen, who has broken and tied up numerous Serie A records since he joined the Giallorossi, and Rodrigo Mora. Roma’s last appearance in the Champions League was in 2018-2019 with a Round of 16 exit after losing to Porto (who is also competing in this UCL) 3-4 on aggregate. Roma have spent majority of the decade within the Europa League, winning the Conference League once in the 2021-2022 season. They qualified for the Champions League after a string of amazing form in the league, qualifying after placing 3rd and all the results aligning on the final day which sent Milan to the Europa League. However, Gasperini has seen himself in this competition this decade multiple times with Atalanta, and has enjoyed European success with Atalanta beating Leverkusen in the iconic 3-0 Europa League blowout during the historic Leverkusen invisibles season. He will look to personally try and replicate this success with Roma in the UCL, knowing their desire to show Europe again that one of the stronger Italian forces is back and here to stay. On the side of Fenerbahce, they last saw the Champions League in 2008-2009, exiting the group stage. Throughout the 2010s and 2020s, Fenerbahce have failed to qualify from the Champions League via the playoffs, however this time, they faced Lyon in the final round of the UCL playoffs. The first leg in Istanbul ended 1-1, and the 2nd leg away in Lyon ended 2-1, meaning Fenerbahce were through to the Champions League 3-2 on aggregate. Fenerbahce are also in a similar boat to Roma, in which they are a common European contender who needs to use this match to show Europe what they’ve missed from their football, and especially the new players and team they’ve assembled recently. To come on this route, they needed to beat Górnik Zabrze in July (2-1 on agg), a recent UCL participant Strum Graz (3-0 on agg), and finally Lyon. Roma’s form in the Serie A has been nothing but electric with 3 wins in 3, 2 of them being absolute blowouts of Fiorentina and Lecce, and the last one being a come behind win vs Gasperini’s former club away. Roma are the current highest goal scoring team and dominate on most of the attacking metrics. Malen is the current top scorer and Dybala is the current top assister in the league. Roma look to continue their win streak tonight and hopefully establish themselves as a serious threat in the league phase. Fenerbahce’s form in the Süper Lig hasn’t been as impressive as Roma’s, but they have a couple of wins under their belt including a 2-0 away win vs Samsunspor, and a 4-2 win vs Konyaspor. Their most recent loss includes a 1-2 win to Süper Lig staples Beskitas. They sit 9th on the table with 2 wins and 2 losses which isn’t the most inspiring form, but they will hopefully use this Champions League match at their very passionate and lively home stadium to hopefully fix up their form. Players to watch on the Roma end, is none other than the duo of Donyell Malen and Paulo Dybala. Dybala’s form as of recent has been electric, he is the top assister of the league right now, while Malen is the top scorer of the league. Players to watch on the Fenerbahce end include Vedat Muriqi, who has 4 goals and assists in 7 games, and N’Golo Kante, who has enjoyed dominant, defining performances, especially vs Lyon.