AS Roma and Feyenoord will face off in the first Europa league knockout round of the 2023/2024 season. This stage sees the eight runners-up from the Europa League group stage tackle the eight teams knocked down from the UEFA Champions League.
15th Feb – De Kuip, Feyenoord
22nd Feb – Stadio Olimpico, Rome
These teams have a recent history between them as then manager Jose Mourinho’s team pipped their Dutch counterparts to the inaugural edition of the UEFA Conference League Final in 2022. Nicolo Zaniolo, who was brought down by Gianluca Mancini in the 32nd minute, buried it past Jaka Bilow and was more than enough to give the Italian outfit the European trophy.
You may recall that that triumph made Jose Mourinho the first manager to win all 3 European club tournaments: the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, and the UEFA Conference League. Since then, they have been underwhelming in the league and that has cost the Portuguese his job in January, with club legend Daniele De Rossi coming to replace him.
Last season, AS Roma and Feyenoord Rotterdam also locked heads in this competition at the quarter-final stage. Still having bad blood between them, over both legs, Feyenoord triumphed 1-0 in the first encounter before Roma completed a 4-2 aggregate comeback in the return leg.
Over the years, the two sides have faced off 5 times. Their first encounter in 2015 ended in a 1-1 draw with the Italian outfit winning the return leg and a further 2 since then. In total, Roma have won 3 of these fixtures, the Dutch side one and a draw between them.
The two sides have had contrasting fortunes coming into this stage with AS Roma coming via the Europa League and Feyenoord Rotterdam finishing 3rd in a group that featured SS Lazio, Celtic, and Atletico de Madrid.
Roma finished second in a group they were clear favourites for, competing against Servette, FC Sheriff, and Slavia Prague. Their draw to Switzerland-based side Servette proved costly as it was the difference between the sides and Slavia Prague as they had initially shared the spoils with the outfit. Winning 2-nil in their double-legged affair. Roma rounded up their group with 13 points across 4 wins, 1 draw, and a single loss.
The Dutch league defending champions had a poor UEFA Champions League outing finishing 3rd behind Atletico Madrid and SS Lazio. They lost 4 of their 6 games having won 2 of their first 3 in 2-0 and 3-1 victories to Celtic and Lazio respectively. Despite their heavy firepower in Santiago Gimenez and Calvin Stengs, they still accumulated a negative goal difference of -1.
Feyenoord Rotterdam continue to play catch up to PSV Eindhoven in their domestic exploits with their Dutch counterparts boasting a commandeering start to the season refusing to drop points at all.
Match tickets
This second encounter is scheduled for the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy on Thursday, the 22nd of February, 2024 at 20:00 GMT.
The magnificent 72,698-capacity stadium will host this exciting fixture, which is regarded by some as one of the games of the round.
Getting tickets for the AS Roma vs Feyenoord tickets could take a lot of work given the standard of this game. Hence, you are advised to search ticket reselling sites should they be expectedly sold out on each club’s channels.
Team news
Lineups
Roma’s long-time injury absentee is Tammy Abraham who is still recuperating from his anterior cruciate ligament injury and exactly the reason Romelu Lukaku was brought in as cover on-loan over the summer. In the UEL so far, only Brighton’s Joao Pedro has accumulated more goals (6) than the Belgian, racking up 5 goals for the Italian outfit. Chris Smalling is also expected to return to action in early February, and may make the second leg.
AS Roma will be hopeful Paulo Dybala can shake off the woes of his constant muscle injuries to lead the club across the perilous waters of relegation.
Roma will seek to shake off their poor league form this campaign and put in a better stint at this crucial stage of the tournament as UEFA Champions League spots seem to be eluding them via the usual qualification methods in the league.
AS Roma XI: Rui Patricio, Mancini, Llorente, N’dicka; Kristensen, Cristante, Paredes, Bove, Spinazzola; Dybala, Lukaku.
Feyenoord Rotterdam have no long-term injury absentees currently while their African Cup of Nations features the contingent Ramis Zerrouki with Algeria and Yankuba Minteh with the Gambia. As well as the Asian Cup featuring Alireza Jahanbakhsh for Iran and Ayase Ueda with the Japanese national team should all be back.
Their progress in these encounters will be dependent on the form of highly sought-after Dutch midfielder Mats Wieffer attracting interest from all around Europe. Paired by brother to Arsenal defender Jurrien Timber, Quinten who will likely be deployed in Arne Slot’s double pivot.
Santiago Gimenez will likely lead the line and will get support from Brazilian winger Igor Paixao and Calvin Stengs in the playmaking role. Lutsharel Geertruida and Slovakia’s David Hancko will lead their defensive line ahead of Romelu Lukaku’s prying eyes.
Feyenoord XI: Bijlow; Geertruida, Hancko, Trauner, Hartman; Wieffer, Timber; Dilrosun, Stengs, Paixao, Gimenez.
Prediction
It certainly bodes to be an exciting tie with Arne Slot’s entertaining football meeting the De Rossi, who replaced the conservative and experienced Jose Mourinho earlier in January.
The game will truly come down to whichever side is ready to dig deep and search for that win over the double-legged encounters in this first knockout stage of the UEFA Europa League.
Feyenoord 1-1 AS Roma
AS Roma 2-1 Feyenoord
Roma to qualify
Further Reading
