Roma contest their biggest game in three years on Sunday, with one simple equation at the forefront of their minds: win against Hellas Verona and Champions League football will be secured for the first time in eight years.
Not since the 2023 Europa League final have Roma been one game away from a Champions League return. But a win over Lazio last weekend while Juventus lost to Fiorentina has put them in a promising position.
Four teams are fighting for the last two Champions League spots, and a win will be enough for Roma to secure one regardless of what happens in the other three games. The permutations if not can be found in full here.
Verona have already been relegated from Serie A and on paper have nothing to play for but pride. But how achievable will a win be for Roma?
Their past five visits to Verona have yielded just one win, in October 2022 when Nicolò Zaniolo, Cristian Volpato and Stephan El Shaarawy scored in a 3-1 victory. El Shaarawy, incidentally, will be making his final appearance for Roma if he plays.
As things stand contractually, Zeki Çelik and Paulo Dybala could be too, although there is confidence the latter at least will renew. The other player due to be out of contract but predicted to stay, Lorenzo Pellegrini, is among the absentees through injury, along with Evan Ndicka, Kostas Tsimikas (who has thus already played the last game of his loan spell from Liverpool), Bryan Zaragoza and Evan Ferguson (likewise with their loans from Bayern Munich and Brighton).
Furthermore, Wesley is suspended after his red card in the derby.
In the reverse fixture, Roma beat Verona 2-0 with goals from Artem Dovbyk and Matías Soulé. Taking the lead in the seventh minute like last time would certainly settle some nerves.
Right now, it’s a sense of anticipation. Roma are nearly where they want to be, but not quite for definite. Their fate is in their own hands on the final day of the season.
The game, like those involving AC Milan, Juventus and Como, kicks off at 7:45pm BST. It will be available to watch live in the UK on DAZN.
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