Champions League rival watch: Roma win derby, defeat for Bayer Leverkusen

AS Roma recorded a 2-0 victory on Sunday in the Rome derby against Lazio. A penalty from striker Edin Dzeko after minutes gave Rudi Garcia’s side the advantage in the game played at the Stadio Olimpico. A second from Gervinho just after the hour mark sealed an important win for the giallorossi that leaves them in second place in Serie A, a point behind leaders Internazionale. Roma are Barça’s next opponents in Group E of the Champions League on 24 November at Camp Nou with Luis Enrique’s side needing just a point to secure first place in the group and a place in the last 16.

Home defeat for Leverkusen

Bayer Leverkusen went down to a 2-1 home defeat at the hands of FC Köln in Bundesliga on Saturday. The visitors went ahead through Maroh after 17 minutes but Javier Hernández’s 10th goal in his last 13 matches put Roger Schmidt’s side level before the break. However, another goal from Maroh in the second half consigned Bayer to their third consecutive defeat in all competitions. The German side face FC Barcelona in last round of matches in Group E on 9 December in the BayArena.

BATE end league campaign with a win

BATE Borisov bounced back from defeat in midweek against Barça with a 4-1 victory over Slutsk in the Belarus Premier League. On Sunday two goals from Alexei Rios and one each from Nemenja Nikolic and Aleksandr Karnitsky gave them the win to complete the domestic season that sees BATE crowned league champions for the tenth season in a row. The blaugranes have already completed their games against the Belarusians in Group E, winning 2-0 away from home and 3-0 at Camp Nou last Wednesday in their most recent Champions League encounter.