Europa League football returns to Stadio Olimpico for the first time in eight months on Thursday night, as Roma host CSKA Sofia in their second group match.
After kicking off their European campaign with a win away at Young Boys last week, Roma will welcome a Bulgarian opponent for their first home match in Group A.
CSKA Sofia lost their first group match last week against CFR Cluj. Roma will be hoping to condemn them to their second defeat in as many games, and pick up their own second win.
Their hopes of doing so will be boosted by the return of Chris Smalling. Since re-joining the club on a permanent basis in October, the English defender is yet to feature due to injury. However, he is now available again – and Paulo Fonseca has confirmed he will make his first start of the season.
Embed from Getty ImagesFonseca also confirmed starts for Carles Perez and Borja Mayoral at his pre-match press conference. The Spanish attackers did not feature in the last league game, but did play last time out in the Europa League – and will get another chance on Thursday.
This will not be the first meeting between Roma and CSKA. The Giallorossi have won all four previous games with the Bulgarians without ever conceding a goal.
Their most recent meeting was in December 2009, when Alessio Cerci scored a brace and Filippo Scardina netted in his only appearance for the club to seal a 3-0 win in that year’s Europa League group stage.
Rewinding further, CSKA were one of the clubs Roma beat on their journey to the European Cup final in 1984. Dreams of making it that far in a continental competition once more can only become materialised if the club take things one step at a time – starting with each match in this group stage.
Roma have never lost under Paulo Fonseca at home in Europe, and will be looking to maintain that record. The fact that CSKA have won only one of their last six games in all competitions is promising.
Roma cannot be complacent, though. They will be hoping for a good performance to continue their positive start to the season.
The game kicks off at 8pm UK time.
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