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Soccer-High-flying Roma eye return to Europe's big stage

By Terry Daley ROME, April 5 (Reuters) - Roma travel to Cagliari on Sunday looking for a first win in Sardinia for over 18 years and knowing that a point would be enough to guarantee them at least a place in the Champions League preliminary rounds. Rudi Garcia's side lie second in Serie A on 73 points, eight behind champions Juventus and still with an outside chance of their first league title since 2001. Never before have they had so many points after 31 games. Even more important for the club, however, is a place in the Champions League after what will be three seasons without European football. Their last appearance was an embarrassing 2-1 aggregate defeat by Slovan Bratislava in the Europa League preliminary rounds at the start of the 2011-12 campaign. There followed two poor seasons under Luis Enrique, Zdenek Zeman and Aurelio Andeazzoli which coincided with a group of American entrepreneurs taking over the club. It culminated in a painful Italian Cup final loss to local rivals Lazio which brought about a full-scale rebellion among fans, who pelted players with abuse on their return to training at the start of the season. "When I first arrived here I understood what the situation was, and that we needed to win in order to get out of that spiral," Frenchman Garcia told the Corriere Della Sera on Saturday. "I realised it was a difficult place to work, but I like a challenge. "We will be in the Champions League and we want to be in there directly. This means finishing either first of second. For first place we don't have our destiny in our hands, but we do for second." Roma are nine points ahead of third-placed Napoli, who occupy the final Champions League place, and a massive 21 points clear of Fiorentina in third with seven games remaining. GUARANTEED PLACE A draw against Cagliari would be enough to guarantee a place in the top three even if Fiorentina beat injury-hit Udinese in Florence as there would be a 19-point gap between the sides with 18 left to play for. Qualifying for the Champions League would give Roma a better chance of keeping midfielder Miralem Pjanic from a potential transfer to big-spending Paris St Germain. Roma, whose last win at Cagliari came in 1995, will be favourites on Sunday although their opponents' seven wins this season have all come at their dilapidated Sant'Elia stadium, which is being redeveloped and has a capacity of only 5,000 spectators. Roma's future looks bright following Garcia's stunning opening season and plans for a new 50,000-capacity stadium that could be opened within two years. "When I first arrived, I asked for faith, to be allowed to prove that I can do well. Now the fans see a united team that never gives up," Garcia said. "Winning the Rome derby (2-0) enabled us to go forward with more confidence and beating Juve in the Italian Cup helped us understand we shouldn't fear anyone." (Editing by Ed Osmond)