AS Roma vs Feyenoord Rotterdam Preview

Feyenoord will travel to Rome this Thursday to face AS Roma for the second leg of their Europa League playoff.

Nothing could separate both sides during the first leg in the Netherlands, with Romelu Lukaku’s second-half goal cancelling out Igor Paixao’s opener. That 1-1 draw left the tie finely poised in the balance ahead of both side’s seventh meeting in Europe in the last nine seasons.

Having beaten their Dutch counterparts in three of the last six meetings between them, the Giallorossi will fancy their chances of progressing to the next round of this tie. That, and their record of winning their two previous UEFA knockout ties having drawn the first leg, should make them confident.

There’s also the matter of having a good record against Dutch teams, with Daniele De Rossi’s side losing just three of 14 such meetings (W6, D5). They are also boosted by beating Frosinone 3-0 at the weekend to make it one defeat from six under their new legendary manager (W4, D1).

Meanwhile, Feyenoord travel to Rome in solid form, having not tasted defeat in any competition since mid-December when they were beaten 2-1 by Celtic in the Champions League. Since then, they haven’t lost in eleven games (W8, D3), and most recently beat Waalwijk 1-0, making it their sixth clean sheet in their last seven games.

They will be desperate to keep a clean sheet here which will give them a realistic chance of beating Roma, who have been responsible for their elimination from their last two European campaigns.

But to record a famous triumph in the Eternal City, Feyenoord will need to end a winless European away run of nine games (D3, L6) stretching back almost two years. That may seem a tall order, but Arne Slot’s men have incredibly scored in all but one of their last 29 away outings, although the only exception did come on this ground, as they fell to a 1-0 defeat at Roma’s rivals Lazio in November.