(Football news) As the Italian team placed second in Group G and the Dutch winners were eliminated from the winners League, the clubs will now face off for the third straight season in the last 16 of the competition.
Feyenoord, the Eredivisie winners from the previous year, ended up third in Group E behind Atletico Madrid and the Biancocelesti, with Celtic topping the table. They were paired with Roma’s local rivals Lazio in the Champions League group stage.
Arne Slot’s team lost all three of their subsequent games after managing two victories in their opening three games, which meant they would be demoted to Europe’s second division.
Beaten quarter-finalists last term, Feyenoord have twice lifted the Europa League’s predecessor, the UEFA Cup, and were also crowned continental champions back in 1970, so their pedigree is certainly not in doubt.
More recently, the Dutch side have scored in 14 of their last 16 European matches, and they continue to rack up goals in domestic competition: victory in Sunday’s Rotterdam derby extended their winning run across te Eredivisie and KNVB Beker to nine matches.
Feyenoord sit second in the league table after seeing off Sparta, but they are still 10 points behind runaway leaders PSV, so knockout competition may prove the best route to silverware this season.
Slot will also have revenge in mind, having lost to Roma in the inaugural Europa Conference League final two years ago, before the Rotterdammers were beaten by the same opponents in last season’s Europa League quarter-finals.
Victory in Tirana, courtesy of Nicolo Zaniolo’s winning goal, earned Roma their first major European trophy in 2022, and a 4-2 aggregate defeat of Feyenoord fewer than 12 months later sees the Serie A side hold a psychological edge before Thursday’s first leg.
Having settled for second place behind Slavia Prague in Group G last autumn, despite collecting 13 points from six games, the 1991 UEFA Cup finalists now face their first continental contest since the departure of controversial coach Jose Mourinho.
After sacking Mourinho last month, Roma had won each of their first three matches under new boss Daniele De Rossi – who incidentally played twice for the Giallorossi against Feyenoord in 2015 – but a recent home defeat to Scudetto favourites Inter Milan left them sixth in the Serie A standings.
De Rossi’s new-look side twice led against the rampant league leaders, but Inter ultimately strode to a 4-2 victory at Stadio Olimpico, where Roma are rarely defeated.
The Italian team had only triumphed once in their previous eight away European competition games, including the disastrous Europa League final in Budapest last season. That one victory came against relative underdogs Sheriff Tiraspol in the season’s opening match.
Feyenoord may be confident of securing a first-leg lead over Roma, who have a history of performing poorly away from home. Roma has also lost more than half of its away games in Serie A this season.
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