AS Roma take on the visitors Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg of UEFA Europa League semifinals. The match will be played on Thursday, May 11th at Stadio Olimpico.
AS Roma currently hold the status of being the winner of a European cup. However, in 2022, they managed to win a new tournament, the Conference League. Nevertheless, José Mourinho failed to accomplish the main task of returning to the Champions League. With his experience (which, by the way, has been more negative lately), The Special One understands that a third attempt in Rome may not happen if the second one is unsuccessful. He is striving to achieve the desired result, simultaneously moving in two directions. The Wolves are fighting to climb into the top 4 of Serie A, but the competition there is very tough, and successful stretches are followed by slumps. After a 0-2 loss to Inter, they even dropped to 7th place in the current league table. However, the Portuguese coach remembers how he led Manchester United to the main European cup by winning a less prestigious one. Currently, the Italians are progressing in that direction, although they face some problems along the way. One notable example is the previous round in April when they faced Feyenoord, their opponent in the 2022 final. They lost in Rotterdam and conceded an away goal but eventually secured a 4-1 victory in extra time.
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Bayer also missed a couple of Champions League campaigns. However, they managed to return to the group stage as one of the leaders based on their performance in the previous season under the guidance of Seoane. Despite the successful first year, Gerardo departed from his position in the autumn as the new start was very weak. Leverkusen decided to place their bet on the young Javier Alonso, essentially his first attempt to prove himself as a coach after his notable career as a player in the past. Not everything went well for him, especially at the beginning, but he picked up momentum in the second half of the season. This was true not only in the Bundesliga, although a lot was lost in the first part of the season. The 1-2 defeat at home to Cologne seems like a kind of surrender in that direction, with a desire to focus on the European stage. There were setbacks in the Europa League as well. It is enough to say that they only won 1 out of 3 home matches in the playoffs, against Ferencváros. They lost to Monaco and drew against Union Saint-Gilloise in Germany. However, in the end, the Germans managed to overcome not only the Hungarians but also the French and the Belgians.
Currently, there is a balance with each team having a victory and a couple of draws. However, Bayer initially gained 4 points in the group stage of the Champions League in 2004. Eleven years later, Roma responded in the same way, and under similar circumstances. Judging by the odds, it is believed that Mourinho, at least at home, will defeat Javier Alonso. But such a duel should not be boring, so we expect both teams to score.
Prediction for the match: Both teams to score – yes.
