Group B: If an empire is to fall, then Rome is as good a place as any for it to happen.

Real Madrid, nine times winners of the European Cup, are here tonight to not only win a match that would guarantee them passage into the last 16 of the Champions League, but also to defend themselves against the charge that this Real team has had its day.

That the game will proceed behind closed doors in an Olympic Stadium that can hold 80,000 merely adds to the drama of the occasion. Michael Owen described the fixture as "strange but important".

Roma are being punished by UEFA for the bottle-throwing incident at the ground in September, when referee Anders Frisk was struck in the forehead as he led Roma and Dynamo Kiev off the field at half-time and did not return.

Kiev, winning 1-0, were awarded the points and a 3-0 victory and Roma are now bottom of Group B. The Italians have just one point and cannot qualify for even the UEFA Cup.

Roma's attitude will be under scrutiny therefore - and their willingness to field a weakened team will displease Bayer Leverkusen and Kiev, the other clubs in the group. Yet even in an empty stadium all eyes will be on Madrid.

Depending on the result in Leverkusen, where Bayer host Kiev, a draw might be enough for Real, but it is victory that brings the security of the last 16. Failure to get that far would be mildly historic for Real; but not mildly hysteric, one imagines, in Madrid.

An example of how much this match matters came from Ivan Helguera. Asked where the game ranks in terms of importance, Helguera replied: "Number one. We cannot get knocked out of the Champions League."

Real have never fallen at this hurdle in the Champions League, and are nine points behind Barcelona in the Spanish league after losing to their rivals a fortnight ago.

The news leaking from the Roma camp offers Real hope. Luigi Del Neri, Roma's third manager in four months, said he is already concentrating on this weekend's league game with Brescia and it seems players of the quality of Francesco Totti, Antonio Cassano and Vincenzo Montella will be left out.

If so, then Real should win and stretch their unequalled record in the competition. Should they slip into the UEFA Cup, it would surely mark the closing chapter of the galactico period in the club's history.

That feels unthinkable, but then so does the fact that in May 1998 in Amsterdam, Pedrag Mijatovic's winning goal against Juventus ended a 32-year wait to lift the European Cup. That began the start of a new empire.

PROBABLE LINE-UPS

AS ROMA (4-4-2): Pelizzoli; Panucci, Dellas, Ferrari, Candela; Mancini, Perrotta, D'Agostino, Aquilani; Corvia, Delvecchio.

REAL MADRID (4-4-2): Casillas; Salgado, Samuel, Helguera, Roberto Carlos; Figo, Guti, Beckham, Zidane; Raul, Ronaldo.

Referee: R Temmink (Neth)