AS Roma will welcome Real Sociedad to Stadio Olimpico this Thursday for the first leg of their Europa League Round of 16 tie.
After losing 1-0 in their first leg against Salzburg last Round, Roma qualified for this tournament stage by beating the Austrian side 2-0 at home. That win at home was followed up by another narrow 1-0 win over Juventus last weekend, meaning that the hosts have won their last four home games in all competitions.
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They have also kept a clean sheet in all those home games and have only conceded in one home game since the turn of the year. So Jose Mourinho’s men come into this tie in strong defensive form. But considering they have won only one of their last ten UEFA matches against Spanish clubs (D2, L7), they will rely on their home form to see them through this first-ever meeting with Real Sociedad.
The visitors will travel to Rome looking to secure a spot in a European quarter-final for the first time in 34 years. However, they will make the trip to Italy on the back of an indifferent seven-game run (W1, D3, L3), casting doubts on their preparedness to win.
Their most recent outing was a goalless draw against Cádiz on Friday. Though it was a poor result, it was enough to keep them inside the LA Liga top four. The White and Blues qualified for this tournament’s stage directly, thanks to a top-of-the-table finish in their group. In addition, they were the only team to win their first five UEL group games this season, which included three away wins on the trot.
They can become just the third team to win four consecutive UEL matches on their travels. But achieving that feat will likely require an improvement on their recent away form, as the visitors have won just one of their last four competitive away games (D1, L2), alarmingly failing to score on three occasions.
So given Roma’s strong defensive showing at home and Sociedad’s recent inability to score away from home, the best prediction for this game is under 2.5 goals.
