Roma vs Real Sociedad

Stadio Olimpico is the venue as Roma and Real Sociedad go head-to-head in the first leg of their exciting Europa League round-of-16 tie.

Last season’s Europa Conference League winners Roma pulled off a second-leg comeback to secure a 2-1 aggregate win over RB Salzburg in the previous Europa League knockout round. Jose Mourinho’s men have won three of their last four competitive matches ‘to nil,’ including a 1-0 home triumph over fierce Serie A rivals Juventus at the weekend, which solidified their position in the top-four run-in. Mourinho himself boasts an impressive home record in the Europa League as a manager, having won 14 out of 16 such fixtures (D1, L1). But if you’re looking for an omen, both those failed attempts to claim a victory came against Spanish clubs. Topically, Roma’s only defeats across their last 33 home matches in major European competitions came at the hands of La Liga sides (W24, D7).

In the meantime, Real Sociedad’s top-table finish in Europa League Group E helped them sidestep the knockout playoff round. Yet their recent spell of form cannot inspire much confidence in the traveling camp, with Imanol Alguacil’s team picking up just one win in their last seven competitive outings (D3, L3). A lack of firepower remains another issue for ‘La Real,’ as they’ve failed to get on the scoresheet five times during that seven-game sequence, including the last two in a row. One goal might do the work here, considering Sociedad won all three away matches in this season’s Europa League group stages without conceding. Another identical scenario would see Sociedad become only the third side in Europa League history to win four consecutive away games ‘to nil.’