Roma vs Bayer Leverkusen

In a repeat of last season’s Europa League semi-finals, Roma entertain Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg of their last-four tie at the Stadio Olimpico. 

Roma got the better of fierce domestic rivals AC Milan in the quarter-finals, winning both legs via an aggregate score of 4-1, to reach their fourth consecutive UEFA semi-finals. ‘I Giallorossi’ ousted Leverkusen in last season’s semi-finals in a true ‘Jose Mourinho vein,’ coming out on top of their evenly-contested tie 1-0 on aggregate before losing to Sevilla in the grand final. Roma’s near-flawless home record in the last two Europa League editions (W11, D1, L1) puts them in the driver’s seat to secure an all-important first-leg advantage. Moreover, they had won five successive home outings across all competitions before slumping to a 3-1 league loss to Bologna last time out. But it’s worth noting that they’ve scored precisely once in three of their four most recent home matches.

In the meantime, Bayer Leverkusen protected their aura of invincibility with a last-gasp 2-2 home draw against Stuttgart in the Bundesliga last weekend, extending their jaw-dropping unbeaten run in all competitions to 46 games (W38, D8). It marked a third consecutive scoring draw for the newly-crowned German champions, suggesting complacency has started to creep in as Xabi Alonso’s men bid to get back on track against a Roma side they’ve failed to beat in their last five European H2Hs (D3, L2). Worryingly for ‘Die Werkself,’ they’ve only kept one clean sheet in their ten most recent knockout away matches in major European competitions. Topically, Leverkusen’s porous defense has capitulated on four of their last five competitive travels.