5 teams who have been pleasant surprises in the 2017/18 Champions League so far

#5 Roma

Roma upset Chelsea in a tremendous victory for them

Italian Serie A runners-up Roma were drawn in perhaps the toughest Champions League group of them all, facing off against a pair of true giants in the form of Chelsea and Atletico Madrid – the Blues being one of the highest spenders in Europe and with one of the most accomplished managers, and Atletico being perennial contenders over the last few seasons. If you consider that Kazakh minnows Qarabag were fully expected to finish bottom of the group, it was probably expected that Roma would depart to the Europa League when it was said and done.

They still might, but it’s looking doubtful now given they only have Qarabag at home to play, while Atletico need to defeat Chelsea and hope Roma lose to progress. How have they done it? Well, they slipped up last night, losing at the Vicente Calderon to Atletico, but really there’s no shame in that result. But apart from that Roma have been pretty great. They picked up a 0-0 draw with Atletico that gave them a solid start, and from there it’s been up and up.

A comfortable win over Qarabag was followed by a thrilling 3-3 draw with Chelsea, a game that saw them come back from 2-0 down to lead 3-2 before conceding a late goal, and then their next result was a revelation – Antonio Conte’s Blues were put to the sword 3-0 at the Stadio Olimpico, as Roma took advantage of Chelsea’s defensive weaknesses largely involving Gary Cahill. A 1st-minute goal for Stephan El Shaarawy – one of the quickest in Champions League history – set the tone for the win.

Now Roma are practically through to the knockout stages and with the likes of El Shaaraway, Edin Dzeko and Radja Nainggolan in their ranks, they could be a dark horse to watch in the later rounds.