Alireza Jahanbakhsh is preferred to Igor Paixão on Thursday evening in the return match of the quarterfinals of the Europa League against AS Roma, according to Feyenoord’s line-up. With the Romans, Paulo Dybala has not been found fit enough, making Andrea Belotti the only pure attacker to field Jose Mourinho. The match starts at 9 p.m. and can be viewed on Veronica and ESPN 2.
Arne Slot knows no secrets for Mourinho. Except for the right wing position, Feyenoord’s line-up could be pre-filled. It was different at AS Roma, which, in addition to Dybala, also has to miss Tammy Abraham in the front. Unlike the first leg in De Kuip, Georginio Wijndalum now has a basic place. The former Feyenoord player fell into half-time a week ago.
Roma had an excellent weekend thanks to the 3-0 win over Udinese and the competition’s loss of points. At the beginning of this week, trainer José Mourinho locked himself up at the Trigoria training complex for two days, in order to optimally prepare for the return. The Portuguese knows that his team in its own Stadio Olimpico is a difficult hurdle to overcome. Roma have won seven of their last eight home games, while the only defeat in that series, against Sassuolo (3-4), was due to a red card for Marash Kumbulla. Moreover, Roma has shown this season that they can make up for a 1-0 defeat. Went in the intermediate round in Lupi 1-0 down at RB Salzburg, after which the damage was repaired in Rome: 2-0.
During the previous game at the Stadio Olimpico this season, in September against Lazio (4-2), Santiago Giménez made his mark. The Mexican then made his second and third goal of the season and is now on 24 goals. Mats Wieffer also has fond memories of the Stadio Olimpico. The midfielder made his debut against Lazio and has since developed rapidly. Feyenoord is the most frequently scoring team in the Europa League with 22 goals. However, despite the blazing form in which Feyenoord is in, no European away game has been won this season. On the other hand, the team from Rotterdam lost only three away games, the last of which was recorded in October.
Lineup AS Roma: Rui Patricio; Mancini, Smalling, Diego Llorente; Zalewski, Cristante, Matic, Wijnaldum, Spinazzola; Pellegrin; Belotti
Line-up Feyenoord: Bijlow; Geertruida, Trauner, Hancko, Hartman; Wieffer, Kökcu, Szymanski; Jahanbakhsh, Gimenez, Idrissi