Matchplug

Barcelona looked like they were heading for a stunning treble at the end of this season until Tuesday when they visited Roma for the return leg of their Champions League quarterfinal match. They were already 4-1 to the good from the first leg, but the Romans stunned them by an incredible 3-0 comeback win to send the Catalans crashing from Europe’s biggest competition. They now face another tough game in the La Liga with some tired legs. They have conceded  at least one goal in their last 4 games, but they have won 4 of their last 5 meetings with Valencia.

Valencia are heading into this game with high confidence following a good run of form that has seen them win 8 of their last 9 games. They have had to be lucky at times this season, but they have developed a winning mentality that would be key for them in this clash, they are also better than they were when both sides met in the Copa Del Rey back in February. Roma would have given them the blueprint of how to take Barca out with much intensity and that could work again for them. They have scored 1.9 goals per game this season, and have netted at least two goals in 6 of their last 9 games.

Wolfsburg’s 2-0 win over Freiburg the last time out helped them stop a run of eight games without a win (5 losses and 3 draws), and 3 games without a goal. They would now look to move clear of the relegation zone with another win here. However, if they lose here and Mainz wins against Freiburg, they could find themselves inside the bottom three by the start of next week. They have the joint-poorest home record in the league this season with just 13 points collected at home, same as Cologne. They have netted in 12 of their last 13 games at home and it would be interesting to see if they can score and shut out Augsburg in this game.

Augsburg are also struggling and are not safe from relegation just yet. They are winless in three games and desperately needs to get some winning run together before the season comes to an end. They started very brightly against Bayern Munich the last time out, taking the lead via an own goal, but they later capitulated and ended up losing 4-1 to leave themselves just 7 points ahead of their host in this game with 5 games left.

Sporting Lisbon’s loss in the first leg of this game was followed by some theatrics after the club presidents slated the team on Facebook. 19 players reacted to the post by demanding an apology, the president reacted back by telling the 19 players that they were suspended. Well, no one was suspended and the team came together to get a 2-0 win at the weekend, they would be looking to overturn their 2-0 in the first leg here, but that would be easier said than done. They scored home and away against Juventus and Olympiacos in the Champions League group stage and they have since netted nine times in the Europa League so far.

Atletico Madrid have lived up to the expectations as favourites to win the Europa League this season. They were knocked out of the Champions League at the group stage after a truly poor campaign, but they have since won 5 games on the bounce in this competition, netting 15 goals in the process. Antoine Griezmann’s form has been a big reason that they are having a good season as the French man has netted 12 times in his last 9 games including against Real Madrid at the weekend and in the first leg of this match.

SS Lazio’s season is looking like it would have a perfect ending after their 2-1 win over Udinese helped them climb to third in the Italian league. Losses for Roma and Inter played to their advantage in that case, but they are also looking to win the Europa League and secure passage to the Champions League group stage. The Italians hold a 4-2 advantage from the first leg and they head to Austria in great attacking form that has seen them score 12 goals in their last 3 games. Their attack has been helped mainly by the form of Ciro Immobile who netted his 27^th goal in all competitions, can Salzburg stop him from netting here?

Salzburg would be worried by the attacking form of their visitors despite their loss in Rome last week being their first in Europe this season. They followed that up with another loss in the Austrian league against LASK Linz, and they face a Lazio side that has scored at least twice in their last four games away from home. This seems to be the end of the road for them especially as they have just two wins from their last six games in this competition.