José Mourinho will be looking to Tammy Abraham and Lorenzo Pellegrini against Leicester City in the second leg of the Conference League semis tonight.
It kicks off at 20.00 UK time. The Special One could reach his eighth European Final, the first one since 2017.
Only Henrikh Mkhitaryan is out for the Giallorossi. Sergio Oliveira is the favourite to replace him and Nicolò Zaniolo should get the nod over Jordan Veretout behind Tammy Abraham. The English striker is the second-best scorer in the competition after Cyriel Dessers.
The Stadio Olimpico will be sold out with circa 70,000 fans. Over 100,000 Giallorossi supporters queued online to buy tickets two weeks ago. It says everything about how much this game means to them. The last time Roma won a trophy was in 2008.
Roma have played eight European semis in their history but were eliminated five times. Newcastle are the last English team they knocked out in 2000. Roma have won 13 matches against English clubs at home (4D, 4L).
Brendan Rodgers will rely on Jamie Vardy, James Maddison and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. Only Wilfred Ndidi and Ryan Bertrand are not available for the Foxes.
Roma vs. Leicester City – probable line-ups
Roma (3-4-2-1): Rui Patricio; Mancini, Smalling, Ibanez; Karsdorp, Cristante, Oliveira, Zalewski; Zaniolo, Pellegrini; Abraham.
Leicester City (4-3-3): Schmeichel; Pereira, Fofana, Evans, Justin; Maddison, Tielemans, Dewsbury-Hall; Lookman, Vardy, Barnes.
Hopefully they’re tougher than they normally are and stand up to the potential high tempo of Leicester. If they match that, then they have a great chance of going through.
We’ve had 2 Italian finalists (1 club) in the CL in the last 12 seasons.
We’ve had 1 Italian finalist in the EL in the last 23 seasons.
And all 3 lost.
It’d be nice to have a winner for a change, even if it is only the Conference Lge.