A major disappointment threatens Georginio Wijnaldum. La Gazzetta dello Sport reports that the AS Roma midfielder will be kept outside the base for the Europa League final against Sevilla. Stephan El Shaarawy, who has been in good shape in recent weeks, would be preferred by trainer José Mourinho.
It will be the first Europa League final for Wijnaldum, who is expected to be able to look forward to a role as a substitute. The the Dutch-international was in the starting line-up for the last two Serie A matches, but El Shaarawy showed his class by scoring twice in those matches. El Shaarawy has been lined up as a left midfielder in the Roman 3-4-2-1 system for the last few games, but with the return of Leonardo Spinazzola it looks like El Shaarawy is moving up a line to take Wijnaldum’s place.
In Rome, in the run-up to the final, people mainly wondered whether Paulo Dybala would get fit in time for the game. The Argentinian last played in the semi-final against Bayer Leverkusen on May 11 and has been sidelined ever since. Mourinho would have wanted to spare his star player and that seems to have been a success. According to Sky Sports Roma has become even more optimistic about the chance of kicking off Dybala. La Gazzetta dello Sport however thinks that Dybala is used as trump and thus starts on the bank.
Seville
On the side of Sevilla, Marcos Acuña is missing due to a suspension, so Manchester United mercenary Alex Telles will probably start. No surprises are expected in the line-up with the Andalusians. This means, among other things, that Nemanja Gudelj starts as a central defender next to Loïc Badé. That would be at the expense of Karim Rekik. The Dutchman kicked off the last three LaLiga matches, but only got three minutes from coach José Luis Mendilibar in the diptych with Juventus in the semi-finals.
Probable line-up Seville: Bounou; Navas, Bade, Gudelj, Telles; Fernando, Rakitic; Ocampos, Torres, Gil; En-Nesyri.
Probable line-up AS Roma: Rui Patricio; Mancini, Smalling, Ibanez; Celik, Cristante, Matic, Spinazzola; Pellegrini, El Shaarawy; Abraham.