MADRID, 25 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Athletic Club will face AS Roma at the Olympic Stadium on Thursday (9:00 p.m.) in the first round of the Europa League, a match that marks the return of the ‘lions’ to European competitions after seven years of absence and in a tournament in which the final will be played at the San Mamés stadium.
It has been almost seven years since Athletic Club last played in a European match. A journey through the desert of continental football will come to an end this Thursday in Rome. There, at the Olympic Stadium, Ernesto Valverde’s men will kick off a very special Europa League for the club, as the team that lifts the trophy this season will do so in the sky of ‘La Catedral’ on May 21.
The first step will be to try to be among the eight best teams that go directly to the round of 16 and to do so they will have to make few mistakes in their group stage against AS Roma, Dutch AZ Alkmaar, Czech Slavia Prague, Bulgarian Ludogorets, Swedish Elfsborg, Turkish Fenerbache and Besiktas, and Viktoria Plzen, a rival that they share with Real Sociedad.
A European debut that, despite having the toughest possible opponent on the road, comes to the ‘lions’ in a good moment of the season. Athletic arrives in Rome on a high in LaLiga EA Sports, where it occupies the third position after having chained three victories. Results that, together with the scoring debuts of Gorka Guruzeta and Álvaro Djaló, the form of Iñaki Williams, and the recovery of his brother Nico, make the red-and-whites optimistic in Italian lands.
The only bad news ahead of the match against Roma was the injury to Oihan Sancet. The Athletic midfielder was not included in the squad list due to an overload in the hamstring muscles of his left leg. A setback that leaves Valverde without the team’s top scorer at the start of the season, and one of the team’s key players.
The main question in the match is who will take Sancet’s place on the pitch, as Valverde has several possible options. One of them would be to use Unai Gómez, in what would be a man for man, although he also has the possibility of placing another midfielder in the centre of the field or opting for a more offensive plan with Álvaro Djaló in the playmaker position.
They will face Roma, who have proven in recent seasons to be a team that competes perfectly in the Europa League, reaching the final two years ago and the semi-finals last season. In addition, in the last 12 home games they have played in European competition, the Italians have achieved 10 victories, one draw and only one defeat – in the first leg of last year’s semi-final against Leverkusen.
However, the start of the season for Roma has been anything but smooth. After just five games, Roma have already had two new coaches. Daniele De Rossi, who started the season in charge of the team, was dismissed after the fourth game’s draw against Genoa (1-1). His replacement was Ivan Juric, who made his debut by securing the first win of the season against Udinese (3-0) last weekend.
With the support of a crowd that will fill the stands of the Olympic Stadium in Rome, the team of the ‘wolf’ will try to string together two victories for the first time since April. Key to achieving this will be the performance of an old acquaintance of the Spanish League like Artem Dovbyk, who has scored in the last two games. In addition, against Udinese the Argentine Paulo Dybala also did so, who remains the leader and the most talented player in the squad.