Roma and Shakhtar Donetsk both will be looking to continue their Europa League journeys when they face off in the first leg of their last-16 tie.
Neither Roma nor Shakhtar are expected to be challenging in the latter stages of the Europa League, with so many other big clubs left in the competition. But paired against each other, both sides will be looking to reach the quarter-finals at least.
For Roma, the Europa League will represent a second chance to qualify for next season’s Champions League should they fail through the league – they current occupy the final qualification spot. But they were knocked out at this stage last season, losing to eventual winners Sevilla as part of the single-match format. So far this season, they have finished top of their group with one defeat coming on the final game with qualification secured, and eased past Braga 5-1 in the last-32.
As for Shakhtar Donetsk, the Ukranian side are looking to reach the Europa League quarter-finals once again having been losing semi-finalists last season, when they were beaten 5-0 by Inter Milan. Since winning the final Uefa Cup, Shakhter Donetsk have reached the Europa League knockout stages in seven of the past 12 seasons including five in six. However, they haven’t actually participated in the group stages during that run, always dropping down from the Champions League group stage.
This year they were given a really tough group alongside Real Madrid, Borussia Monchengladbach and Inter Milan, only missing out on their worst head-to-head record with the latter. In the last round they were fairly comfortable in a 3-0 aggregate win over Maccabi Tel Aviv, but since securing their spot in the last-16, Shakhtar have lost two of their three matches.
Borja Mayoral is Roma’s top scorer in the Europa League this season, scoring five goals including one in each leg against Braga. Fortunately for Roma going in this particular game, the Spaniard has been saving his strikes for the Stadio Olimpico, netting four of his five Europa League goals at home. It’s something that stretches to Serie A too, with Mayoral scoring four of his six league goals at home.
KO: Fri, 12.03 @ 01:30 IST
Prediction: Total goals scored will be Over 0.5
