Europa League: Roma Ready for the Red Bulls Return

AS Roma vs Red Bull Salzburg

Roma and Red Bull Salzburg have their sights set on the Europa League Round of 16 when they meet at Stadio Olimpico on Thursday… and it’s a tie which is right on a knife-edge.

Salzburg won the first leg 1-0 as Nicola Capaldo scored a late headed winner to tee up the second leg just perfectly, and now the onus is on Jose Mourinho’s Roma to get back in the tie. Salzburg head coach Matthias Jaissle is in his second season at the club having led the Red Bulls to the Austrian league title last term and the ambitious Austrians are hungry for more silverware.  

Both teams are in good shape in their domestic competitions; while Salzburg have a six point lead at the top of the Austrian Bundesliga Roma are up to third place in Serie A after a run of four victories from their last six games. Salzburg come into the game on the back of a 3-1 win away to WSG Tirol while Roma picked up a 1-0 win at home to Hellas Verona so we expect two teams full of confidence to arrive in Rome.

In a strong competition neither Roma nor Salzburg are strong contenders for the 2023 title according to the latest Europa League 2023 betting odds, but once they reach the last 16 their fans can rightly start to dream.       

Talking Points

Another start for Solbakken?  

Norwegian striker Ola Solbakken scored his first league goal on his first start for I Giallorossi when he latched on to a back heel from Leonardo Spinazzola to slide in the only goal of the game against Verona. While Napoli appear to be running away with the Scudetto, Roma are well in the hunt for a top four place and Solbakken could have an important part to play. Roma have had a run of injuries to forwards, with Paul Dybala and Lorenzo Pellegrini out; and Tammy Abraham added to the sick list when he went off with an eye injury after a clash with team-mate Gianluca Mancini.

The former Chelsea star has had a minor operation and has told fans he’ll be back in action soon, but Thursday comes too early.

Solbakken, who signed from Bodo Glimt in November could line up alongside Andrea Belotti in the absence of Abraham and top scorer Pellegrini. Belotti remains a key figure in the Roma attack, scoring a crucial goal against Real Betis at the group stage to earn a draw and Roma eventually joined the La Liga side in the knockout phase. The young Norwegian says he is learning from his senior team-mate’s work rate and commitment.  

With a centre back pairing of Roger Ibanez and Chris Smalling I Giallorossi are a tough team to break down and the addition of Leeds centre back Diego Llorente on loan has given Mourinho more options, so he has decisions to make at the back while I expect Solbakken to carry on where he left off up front.     

Salzburg wonderkid is on the Anfield radar

One player we’ll be looking out for in this week’s Europa League 2023 highlights is Salzburg’s young star Luka Sucic. The 20 year old already has four Croatia caps to his name and he is being touted as an eventual replacement for the legendary Luke Modric.

High praise indeed.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is known to be an admirer of the 6ft 1in star and with Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain due to leave Anfield in the summer he is looking for re-enforcements. Since signing for the Red Bulls in 2020 Sucic has scored 13 goals and made ten assists from 93 appearances in all competitions, and he has already won two Austrian league and cup medals.

With Salzburg’s game against Tirol pretty much won at 2-0, Jaissle substituted Sucic alongside skipper Andrea Ulmer to rest them for this huge clash.     

History

Roma are three times Serie A winners and they picked up a European title last season winning the 2022 Europa Conference League with a 1-0 win over Feyenoord in a tightly contested final.

Mourinho knows how to win silverware and he’ll be taking this tie deadly seriously.     

Salzburg are 16 times Austrian Bundesliga champions, winning the last nine domestic titles on the bounce and they were UEFA Cup runners up in 1994.

Betting Tip

Roma are at SBOTOP odds of 1.66 to win this second leg while Red Bull are at odds of 4.36 and the Draw is 3.45

Salzburg can be backed with the +0.75 advantage at a price of 1.95, but I think home advantage, a more experienced squad and the Mourinho factor will see the I Giallorossi through.   

 

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