Roma, Feyenoord cross paths once again
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Credit: sportsmole.co.uk
AC Milan take a three-goal lead to Rennes
With one foot in the Europa League‘s last 16, AC Milan aim to finish the job on Thursday, when they take a three-goal lead to Rennes.
Milan cruised to victory in the first leg of their knockout-round playoff tie, leaving Les Rennais with a mountain to climb back at Roazhon Park. After seizing control of last week’s contest, Milan went on to wrap up a comfortable 3-0 victory at San Siro that sees them travel to France as hot favourites to progress.
After coming through Group F in the autumn, before embarking on last week’s trip to Italy in their best form of the season, Rennes were certainly expecting to fare better at San Siro.
Les Rouge et Noirs now have their work cut out if they are going to progress to the last 16, and they may well be rue finishing second to Villarreal in the group phase, which left them such a challenging playoff contest to contend with.
Credit: sportsmole.co.uk
Disjointed Marseille welcome Shakhtar Donetsk
Already onto their third manager of the season, a disjointed Marseille welcome Shakhtar Donetsk to the Orange Velodrome for the second leg of their Europa League knockout round playoff tie on Thursday night.
Les Olympiens threw away a pair of one-goal leads to draw 2-2 with the Ukrainian champions in the first leg, in what has proven to be Gennaro Gattuso‘s penultimate game in the hotseat.
Official confirmation of Gattuso’s departure arrived on Tuesday, and Marseille have shaken hands with Jean-Louis Gasset to take over for the remainder of the campaign; another peculiar call from the Olympiens hierarchy after the 70-year-old was infamously sacked by Ivory Coast midway through their triumphant Africa Cup of Nations campaign.
Gasset will inherit an out-of-sorts Marseille crop who are now without a victory in seven successive fixtures in all competitions, with their only win of 2024 so far coming away to Thionville Lusitanos in the Coupe de France, and even then that 1-0 success left a lot to be desired.
Les Olympiens remain a tough nut to crack on their own pitch and can be expected to at least force extra time against a Shakhtar squad still lacking competitive match practice, and should penalties be required to decide the teams’ fate, the Orange Velodrome crowd could make all the difference.
Credit: sportsmole.co.uk
Sparta Prague and Galatasaray square off in Europa second leg
Sparta Prague and Galatasaray return to action in the Europa League when they square off in the second leg of their knockout stage clash on Thursday.
The Turkish powerhouse prevailed in a five-goal thriller when the sides met in last week’s reverse leg and will travel to the Generali Arena looking to pick up where they left off.
Sparta Prague will be backing themselves to turn the tie on its head this Thursday as they return home, where they are currently on a run of eight straight victories, stretching back to a goalless draw with Rangers on October 26.
While Galatasaray have been in excellent form in recent weeks, they will need to show their mettle against a Sparta Prague side who have made their home turf a fortress this season. However, the visitors boast the firepower needed to get this one over the line and trust them to come out on top once again.
This will be the fourth-ever meeting between Sparta Prague and Galatasaray, with the Turkish outfit claiming two wins in their three previous three encounters.
Credit: sportskeeda.com
FIXTURES
Qarabag17:45Sporting Braga
Rennes17:45AC Milan
SC Freiburg17:45Lens
Toulouse17:45Benfica
Marseille20:00Shakhtar Donetsk
Roma20:00Feyenoord
Sparta Prague20:00Galatasaray
Sporting Lisbon20:00Young Boys
