Verdict: Total goals under 2.5
Best odds: 3/5
Bookmaker: Unibet
On Thursday evening, Feyenoord will play host to AS Roma at the at De Kuip in Rotterdam in the first leg of the clash between the two sides in the quarterfinals of the Europa League. At this stage of the competition, both of these teams will not only be hoping to get through to the semifinals, but to lift the trophy at the end of the season.
Feyenoord
It’s been almost six years since Feyenoord were last crowned Dutch champions, with PSV Eindhoven and Ajax winning all between them, apart from 2019/20 when the season was declared void in the league due to the Covid-19 pandemic. At the moment, however, Feyenoord appear to be well on their way to regain the throne, topping the Eredivisie table with 67 points, eight more than Ajax in second as well as PSV in third place. With just five rounds left to be played, there isn’t much time for the two competitors to recover the lost ground in the race.
Feyenoord finished top of a very strange group in the Europa League, where they faced Midtjylland, Lazio and Sturm Graz, and the four teams ended up with eight points each. In the end, only the number of goals scored meant Feyenoord finished ahead of the Danish side, and in the round of 16, they faced and utterly overran Shakhtar Donetsk. It should, however, be said that the Ukrainian side had to play their home match in Warsaw, Poland, for very obvious reasons.
In all competitions, Feyenoord’s last-six run consists of a 2-1 home win over Volendam, a 7-1 home win over Shakhtar, a huge 2-3 away win over title rivals Ajax, a 1-3 win in the city derby away to Sparta Rotterdam, a 1-2 defeat to Ajax at home in the KNVB Cup semifinals, and a 5-1 win at home over RKC Waalwijk.
Team News
Head coach Arne Slot won’t be able to count on first-choice goalkeeper Justin Bijlow, who is out with a wrist injury. Winger Alireza Jahanbakhsh is a big doubt after pulling out from the warm-up ahead of the RKC clash.
Bijlow’s absence means Timon Wellenreuther will be between the posts. David Hancko should partner Gernot Trauner in the heart of defence, with Lutsharel Geertruida on the right and Quilindschy Hartman on the left. Mats Wieffer and captain Orkan Kokcu are set to fight the battles in the middle of the park, with Sebastian Szymanski further up, closer to the attacking line, likely to be led by Santiago Gimenez, flanked by Oussama Idrissi and Igor Paixao.
AS Roma
Roma has had an interesting season so far as well, hanging closely behind the top four in the Serie A for the most of its course until they took advantage of a couple of blips from close competitors to break into the Champions League bracket. Right now, Jose Mourinho’s side are third, 21 points behind runaway leaders Napoli, and five behind city rivals Lazio in second place. The two Milan teams are still close behind, AC Milan by only a point and Inter by two. Atalanta in sixth place are five points behind, seventh-place Juventus, nine. The race is obviously nowhere near to being resolved, and the remaining nine rounds should be very exciting for those who enjoy Italian football.
Having won the maiden edition of the Europa Conference League last season, Roma finished the Europa League group stage second to Real Betis in Group C, ahead of Ludogorets and HJK, and to get where they are now, they had to dispose of RB Salzburg in the play-off round, as well as Real Sociedad in the round of 16.
The Giallorossi haven’t exactly shown consistency in recent weeks, though Mourinho will be pleased with the fact that his team won the last two matches. Their last-six run, on the other hand, includes a 2-0 win over Sociedad in the first leg, a shocking 3-4 defeat to Sassuolo at home, a goalless draw away to Sociedad in the second leg, a 1-0 away defeat to Lazio in the Derby of Rome, a 3-0 home thrashing of Sampdoria, and a 0-1 win over Torino in Turin.
Team News
Former Feyenoord defender Rick Kaarsdorp will not be with the squad on Thursday, probably for the rematch as well, through a knee problem which has been sorted out with surgery. Forward Ola Solbakken suffered a shoulder injury after being surprisingly named to start against Torino.
With Rui Patricio in goal, the trio of Gianluca Mancini, Chris Smalling and Diego Llorente should form the back line. Georginio Wijnaldum, who played for Feyenoord in his younger days, will join Bryan Cristante in the middle of the park, with Leonardo Spinazzola and Nicola Zalewski out wide. Lorenzo Pellegrini and Paulo Dybala are expected to provide support for Tammy Abraham in attack.
Conclusion
Feyenoord have certainly racked up better results in the last couple of weeks, but contests like this one represent what Jose Mourinho is all about. The experienced Portuguese will have prepared his team well, and not many would be surprised to see them return to Rome with a small but significant advantage, even if most bookies see the home team as slight favourites.
Verdict: Total goals under 2.5
Best odds: 3/5
Bookmaker: Unibet
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