Arne Slot has announced Feyenoord’s line-up for the Europa League meeting with AS Roma. Justin Bijlow makes his comeback under the crossbar during the first duel with the Romans, so that Timon Wellenreuther starts on the bench. Alireza Jahanbakhsh also returns to the starting eleven. The game starts at 6:45 p.m. and can be seen on Veronica and ESPN 2.
Bijlow returns to Feyenoord’s goal after 74 days. The defense is completed by Lutsharel Geertruida, Gernot Trauner, Dávid Hancko and Quilindschy Hartman. There are no surprises in midfield either. Slot chooses the trio Mats Wieffer, Orkun Kökçü and Sebastian Szymanski. In the vanguard, the recovered Jahanbakhsh is favored over Igor Paixao. Santiago Giménez is the striker, while Oussama Idrissi acts as a left winger.
Feyenoord cannot have Quinten Timber at its disposal, but Bijlow is back after his wrist fracture. Feyenoord has bad memories of Roma, as the Conference League final was lost to the Romans (1-0) last season. Trainer José Mourinho has proven to be a tease for Dutch teams in recent years. On behalf of Roma and Manchester United, he eliminated Ajax (twice), Vitesse and thus Feyenoord. The last home game of the team from Rotterdam against Mourinho did end well: in 2016 a goal by Tonny Vilhena turned out to be good for a 1-0 win over United. A year before, Roma proved too strong in the intermediate round of the Europa League. After the 1-1 in Rome, De Kuip lost 1-2.
Where Feyenoord can hardly miss Champions League football for the coming season, it is different for Roma. I Giallorossi are currently third in Serie A, but are mainly characterized by volatility. However, the last two matches were converted into wins. The setback for Mourinho is the lack of Ola Solbakken, who fell out with a serious shoulder injury during the 0-1 win against Torino. Rick Karsdorp is also temporarily out of circulation after knee surgery. Another ex-Feyeno player, Georginio Wijnaldum, is there. The midfielder has been in the starting line-up since his return and was recently of great value with the opening goal against Sampdoria (3-0).
Line-up Feyenoord: Bijlow; Geertruida, Trauner, Hancko, Hartman; Wieffer, Szymanski, Kökçü; Jahanbakhsh, Gimenez, Idrissi
Lineup AS Roma: Rui Patriciao; Smalling, Mancini, Ibanez, Zalewski; Matic, Cristante, Pellegrini; Spinazzola, Dybala, Abraham