AS Roma take on the visitors Porto in the second leg of UEFA Europa League round of 16. First leg result: 1-1. The match will be played on Thursday, February 20th at Stadio Olimpico (Rome).
Roma have not been able to achieve their long-standing goal of returning to the Champions League. So, last season, having fired Mourinho, they seemed to have managed to achieve success, but in the end they only finished 6th in Serie A, and lost in the semi-finals of the Europa League again. At the beginning of the new competition, they already got rid of Jose's successor, De Rossi, then Juric worked in the capital for a short time and was extremely unsuccessful. Yes, under the experienced Ranieri, who is already in office for the 3rd time, there is progress, but it is obvious that much cannot be achieved in Calcio, and it is unlikely that they will even repeat the previous result. And in the cup they had already lost to Milan. The only thing left was an attempt to prove themselves in the Europa League, where, of course, Dovbyk and company did not fail, but they did not show anything. In Portugal, they even opened the scoring, but could not hold on to the advantage.
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Porto clearly had different plans for the current season. The Dragons got a new president at the end of spring. Villas-Boas came to the post largely amid dissatisfaction with the failures - of course, they failed to win the Primeira Liga title for the second time in a row, and also fell significantly behind a couple of their eternal enemies from Lisbon. But in fact, Sergio Conceição won the Portuguese Cup at the end of that season. His successor has already been fired after just over six months on the job. And the current coach, Anselmi, has inherited a bunch of problems. The team was knocked out of the League Cup in the semi-finals, and out of the cup at the end of autumn (they managed to lose to Moreirense), and in the Primeira Liga - still the same third place. And in the Europa League, already under the Argentinean, they made it to the playoffs in the last round. But they still sold both Galeno and Nico González. Last Thursday, all that happened was to level the score at 1-1 after conceding a goal "in the locker room".
The "Dragons" beat the Italians in 2016 in the Champions League qualification (3-0 away after 1-1 at home) and in the playoffs in 2019 (exchanging victories 2-1, and the decisive goal in extra time). The Italians were no worse on the road. And at home, they should win in regular time.
Prediction for the match: Porto to win.
