Roma and Feyenoord will cross paths once again when they meet at the Stadio Olimpico in the second leg of their Europa League playoff tie on Thursday.
The tie is hanging in the balance after a 1-1 draw at De Kuip last week, with Romelu Lukaku continuing his incredible Europa League run to clinch a draw for the Giallorossi.
Match preview
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While being slightly below par in Rotterdam, Daniele De Rossi and his side will have been delighted to leave the cauldron of De Kuip with a draw to take home.
Lukaku's second-half equaliser could prove pivotal in terms of deciding the tie, and it extended his phenomenal Europa League run of scoring in 17 of his last 18 matches in the competition.
Performances and results have been largely positive since De Rossi replaced Jose Mourinho in the Roma dugout, as the former midfielder started with three wins before an unfortunate 4-2 loss to runaway Serie A leaders Inter Milan.
That remains their only defeat in six since De Rossi took over, as a positive draw in the first leg was followed up by a convincing 3-0 win over Frosinone at the weekend.
Form under De Rossi has seen Roma rise to sixth and leave many strong sides in their wake below them, but there is still a four-point gap between themselves and the top four.
Roma's recent results over Feyenoord will also give them huge belief ahead of this second leg, as they progressed despite losing the first leg at De Kuip in the quarter-finals of this competition last season, on their way to the final.
Feyenoord were also the opponents Roma defeated in the inaugural Europa Conference League final back in 2022, as the Italians won their first piece of European silverware for 61 years.
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The Dutch side will be sick of the sight of Roma, because since the advent of group stages in UEFA competitions, Roma are the only side to have ever beaten them in the knockout stages, doing so in the past two seasons and also in the 2014-15 campaign.
Arne Slot's side will therefore need to make history at the Olimpico to extend their run in Europe, but the only time they have failed to score in their last 29 away matches across all competitions was here in the Italian capital against Lazio back in November.
Another statistic that will not bring much hope to the Feyenoord faithful is that they have failed to win any of their last nine games on the road in Europe, including the defeat here last season.
A late winner against 10-man RKC Waalwijk at the weekend extended an 11-game unbeaten run for Slot's men though, but the vast majority of their games in 2024 have been at home.
This will be just their third away game of the calendar year, as opposed to seven at De Kuip, but they did win both of those matches on the road, at AZ Alkmaar and Vitesse.
Champions League football is set to await Feyenoord again next season regardless of their fate in this competition, as even though they are 10 points adrift of leaders PSV Eindhoven, there is an eight-point buffer to Twente in third.
Team News
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After picking up a yellow card in the first leg, Edoardo Bove will sit the return out with suspension for Roma, possibly opening the door for Bryan Cristante to return to the side.
Rui Patricio looks as though he has lost his place in goal to young Mile Svilar, after the Serbian also started the league win at Frosinone at the weekend, despite only initially being the cup keeper.
Paulo Dybala and Lorenzo Pellegrini were both rested in that win but should start again like they did in Rotterdam, meaning Tommaso Baldanzi may drop to the bench after being handed his first Roma start on Sunday.
Chris Smalling's late cameo was his first after returning from a long spell out injured, but English compatriot Tammy Abraham remains sidelined for the foreseeable future.
Feyenoord were able to welcome back both Quinten Timber and Lutsharel Geertruida to the side against Waalwijk after both missed the first leg last week.
Top scorer Santiago Gimenez also made a return to the starting XI after only being fit enough for the bench last Thursday, but Alireza Jahanbakhsh is set to remain out.
Elsewhere on the injury list is Gernot Trauner, and goalkeeper Justin Bijlow, meaning Timon Wellenreuther will continue to deputise between the sticks.
Roma possible starting lineup:
Svilar; Karsdorp, Diego Llorente, Mancini, Spinazzola; Cristante, Paredes, Pellegrini; Dybala, Lukaku, Zalewski
Feyenoord possible starting lineup:
Wellenreuther; Geertruida, Beelen, Hancko, Hartman; Stengs, Zerrouki, Wieffer; Minteh, Gimenez, Igor Paixao
We say: Roma 2-1 Feyenoord (Roma win 3-2 on aggregate)
In what is set to be yet another intriguing, hard-fought and close encounter between these two sides, it has been set up perfectly following a tight first leg.
Roma have had the slight edge over Feyenoord in the last two seasons though, and with home advantage here, and a firing Lukaku on their side, they will be favourites to progress to the last 16.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Andrew Delaney
