AS Roma meets Real Sociedad for the first leg of their Europa League Round-of-16, with hopes of inching closer to the title. Roma is last year’s winner of the Europa Conference League, still aiming for another title in this contest. Sociedad on the other hand is struggling in Europe, as they failed to make it past the Round-of-16 since 1991. When it comes to their domestic league, these two teams are actually in the fourth of their respective leagues. Roma is at the fourth of Serie A, while Sociedad is at the fourth of La Liga. This meeting will be hosted by Roma, on March 10, 2023, at 1:45 AM (GMT+8).
This will be the very first time that these two teams will meet in a competitive match, so expect them to battle with unfamiliarity with each other. The hosts are actually doing well at home, winning their last four games at home. Moreover, in those four matches, they were also able to keep a clean sheet in those four wins. As for the visitors, during the group stage, they had the best defensive record in the league. In the Europa League, they were able to keep clean sheets in all of their three away games in the group stage. The question remains to be whether they can both bring these records to win the first leg of their series.
AS Roma
Roma were able to book a ticket for the Round-of-16 after winning their knockout game against Salzburg in a 2-1 win. During that knockout series, Roma actually lost the first leg in a 1-0 defeat. Fortunately, they were able to overturn their deficit, scoring two goals in the second leg. They were able to held their opponents in a goalless crucial loss, which gave them the win on aggregate. It was Andrea Belotti, and Paulo Dybala who gave Roma the victory due to their first-half goals. Additionally, this squad is coming from a 1-0 win against Juventus in their domestic league meeting. They are doing well at home, winning seven of their last eight games at home. This is also the case for their European competitions, as they only lost to two of their 33 European games.
Leonardo Spinazzola and Stephan El Shharawy is expected to be rested in this match, following their hectic schedule. Rick Karsdorp, and Nicola Zalewski are both expected to play on their behalf for this match.
Real Sociedad
Sociedad on the other hand booked their spot in the Round-of-16 after finishing at the top of Group E in the group stage. They were able to be ahead of Manchester United in their group, which made them seal their place in this round. However, they are a team who last go past the round-of-16 in 1991. They are hoping to finally end their drought, and qualify for the next round with a win in this series. Playing on the road is not a problem for this team, as they are actually enjoying an unbeaten run in their away games. From those unbeaten road games in the contest, they were able to keep three clean sheets. The problem is that there seems to be a drop in their recent games. They only won just once in their last seven games.
After missing six games, David Silva is finally back for his squad, and already played on their last match. Along with him are Ander Guevara, and Mohamed-Ali Cho, who will also be back for Sociedad. However, they will be without Gianluca Mancini, who is struggling with an ankle injury.
Prediction:
AS Roma (2.0)
Odds: -0.96
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