Sevilla vs Roma 07/08/20

07 August 2020

Sevilla and Roma will face off against each other at the Schauinsland-Reisen-Arena in the revamped UEFA Europa League round of 16.

Sevilla had racked up five consecutive Europa League wins before succumbing to a narrow 1-0 away defeat to APOEL on Matchday 6, as they advanced to the competition’s knockout stage as Group A winners. Notably, four of their five group-stage victories yielded a full-time margin of at least two goals. ‘Los Nervionenses’ then squeezed past CFR Cluj in the round of 32 on the away goal rule (1-1 A, 0-0 H), which means they come into this encounter winless in three Europa League games in a row. However, the Spanish giants have successfully negotiated three of their last four last-16 ties in the competition. But, Sevilla have endured mixed fortunes in their previous 12 European clashes against the Italian rivals (W5, D2, L5), although they’ve lost only one of their last four such matches (W2, D1).

On the other hand, Roma fought their way through to the knockout stage as Group J runners-up despite picking up only two wins from six group-phase fixtures (D3, L1). Five of those six matches featured goals in both halves, with four producing over 2.5 goals at FT. But, Paulo Fonseca’s men barely went past Gent in the round of 32, 2-1 on aggregate (1-0 H, 1-1 A), with both of their goals scored in that two-legged tie arriving in the opening half an hour of play. Facing the La Liga opponents has never been easy for the ‘Giallorossi’ considering they’ve clinched just 11 triumphs from 34 such European matchups (D5, L18). Taking into account their knockout-stage record in the UEFA Champions League too, Roma have failed to progress from the UEFA round of 16 in six of their previous seven attempts.