Defending Champions League winner Barcelona is the betting favorite to win that title once again this time around, and they're also the clear favorite against Roma as the two clubs meet in opening Group E Champions League action on Wednesday.
And those clubs have already met in 2015, with Barcelona topping Roma 3-0 in a friendly in the Gamper Trophy game on August 5 on goals by Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Ivan Rakitic.
Prior to that Barcelona and Roma had last met back in February 2002 in Soccer Champions League group stage action, with the teams playing to a 1-1 draw at Camp Nou and Roma rolling to a 3-0 victory at home at Stadio Olimpico. Overall Barcelona and Roma have met eight times dating back to 1953, with each team picking up three wins to go along with a pair of draws.
But despite the all-time series being knotted up, it's Barcelona that sits as the big -160 favorite for Wednesday's match at Stadio Olimpico, with Roma at +425 and draw odds of +290. The total for the match is listed at 2.5 goals, with the OVER at -120 and the UNDER at -105.
And Barcelona is also the favorite on the odds to win the Champions League for the second year in a row, after they beat Juventus in the final last year. Barcelona sits at +275 on those futures, with Bayern Munich second at +400, Read Madrid third at +500, and Chelsea (+900) and Manchester City (+1000) rounding out the top five on the list. Roma is back at +6600.
Barcelona is coming off a 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid in La Liga action on Saturday, after they'd grabbed 1-0 victories over Athletic Bilbao and Malaga CF in their first two games of the season. Roma picked up a clean sheet in a 2-0 win over Frosinone on Saturday, after they'd played to a 1-1 draw against Verona and beaten Junventus by a score of 2-1.
The four-team Group E for the Champions League also includes Germany's Bayer Leverkusen and Belarus' BATE Borisov, with those teams squaring off on Wednesday at the BayArena. Barcelona and Roma's soccer rematch will take place on November 24 at Camp Nou.
*Odds as of September 14, 2015