Roma vs Salzburg

Faced with a 1-0 first-leg deficit, Roma will be looking to turn their Europa League knockout playoff tie against RB Salzburg on its head when they meet at the Stadio Olimpico.

Despite lacking Paulo Dybala, Roma bounced back from a late loss in Austria with a hard-fought 1-0 home win over Hellas Verona at the weekend, maintaining their status as legitimate Serie A top-four candidates. That result also marked Roma’s fifth victory in six competitive home outings in 2023 (L1), three of which yielded an identical 1-0 scoreline, highlighting the significance of scoring the opening goal. The two-time Europa League winner Jose Mourinho knows in-depth about going the distance in Europe. Roma’s outrageous run of 13 unbeaten home matches in the UEFA knockout ties gives him more confidence (W11, D2).

In the meantime, visiting Salzburg followed up a narrow first-leg win with a comfortable 3-1 triumph at fellow Austrian Bundesliga rivals Tirol at the weekend, stretching their winning run in all competitions to three games. However, since beating Roma’s fierce rivals Lazio in 2009, ‘Die Roten Bullen’ have gone winless on their last five trips to face Italian sides in major European competitions (D2, L3). Indeed, their most recent Europa League knockout tie against a club from Serie A yielded a 4-3 aggregate defeat to Napoli in 2018/19. That was also the last time Salzburg made it past this stage of the competition, so there could be a mental barrier they need to overcome.