Fiorentina face Roma on Thursday in the first leg of an all-Italian last sixteen clash in the Europa League. It will be a special match for Fiorentina head coach Vincenzo Montella as he spent 10 years at the Stadio Olimpico as a player.
Last month the two sides met in the Coppa Italia and Mario Gomez scored twice to put Fiorentina through. This time Montella will be without strikers Khouma Babacar and Giuseppe Rossi while Roma will have to do without Brazilian defender Leandro Castan while striker Juan Iturbe is in doubt.
Roma have been unconvincing lately, they are unbeaten in their last six matches in all competitions but won just one of those six. It's also interesting to mention that Fiorentina have faced fellow Italian sides in Europe on four previous occasions and never managed to win. Roma have faced two such encounters, won one and lost one.
Probable line-ups:
Fiorentina: Neto - Richards, Basanta, Savic, Alonso - Fernandez, Pizarro, Badelj - Salah, Joaquin - Gomez
Roma: De Sanctis - Cole, Manolas, Yanga-Mbiwa, Torosidis - De Rossi, Keita; - Pjanic, Gervinho, Ljajic - Totti
My prediction: 1-1 draw.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Fiorentina win - 7/5 Draw - 9/4 Roma win - 23/10
sharpe
9 years ago
Another very interesting game coming in the Europa league, Fiorentina are in the great shape at the moment and I will not be surprized if they could clinch this one and make it into the next round. But 0-0 from the first game is very tricky result and if Roma succeed to score first will be very tough for their opponents...
Another very interesting game coming in the Europa league, Fiorentina are in the great shape at the moment and I will not be surprized if they could clinch this one and make it into the next round. But 0-0 from the first game is very tricky result and if Roma succeed to score first will be very tough for their opponents to respond.
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seculla
9 years ago
In my opinion this game, will be one of the most interesting game in 1/8 finals in Europa League. In my opinion both teams have almost equal quality when it comes to players in their squads and it will be very difficult for both sides to went trough this 1/8 finals. I expect both teams to score in tonight's match and also...
In my opinion this game, will be one of the most interesting game in 1/8 finals in Europa League. In my opinion both teams have almost equal quality when it comes to players in their squads and it will be very difficult for both sides to went trough this 1/8 finals. I expect both teams to score in tonight's match and also I think that Fiorentina is a "small" favorite because of home pitch.
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h34dhunt3r
9 years ago
Yet another game that ended up with 0:0 in first match. Italian teams, both in bad form at the moment are crossing each others paths in this years Europa League. Fiorentina beaten Inter week ago, but then played horribly and lost 4:0 to a Lazio, so they must be losing their confidence. Speaking about confidence, Roma was...
Yet another game that ended up with 0:0 in first match. Italian teams, both in bad form at the moment are crossing each others paths in this years Europa League. Fiorentina beaten Inter week ago, but then played horribly and lost 4:0 to a Lazio, so they must be losing their confidence. Speaking about confidence, Roma was only few steps behind Juventus for entire season, but they kinda forgot how does it feel to win. At least last 4 league matches (that's how many I recall atm) ended with 0:0 or 1:1. So they have troubles scoring, and I wouldn't be any suprised if Fiorentina goes in next round. My predictions: - Result: 1:0 for Fiorentina; - Man of the match: Mohamed Salah.
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