Roma will take on Athletic Bilbao on Thursday, 26 September as both clubs get their Europa League campaigns underway.
Roma come into the match with a new manager in Ivan Juric after they parted ways with Danielle de Rossi last week. Juric won his first match in charge this weekend and will be hoping that the momentum of that win can carry them through to another one here.
Athletic Bilbao also come into this one feeling good about themselves. They have won their last three matches in La Liga and will be feeling confident ahead of their trip to Italy.
How the bookies view it: Roma edge the odds
Roma's win at the weekend has seemingly convinced the bookies as they have been priced as the favourites for Thursday's clash with Athletic Bilbao. Betfred have priced a home win at 21/20 while a win for the visitors has been priced at 13/5. The draw, which wouldn't be a bad result for either team, has been priced at 12/5.
Recent head-to-head: A first competitive meeting
This will be the first time that Roma and Athletic Bilbao have met in a competitive fixture. However, they have met once before in a friendly match back in the summer of 2019. On that occasion, the two teams played out a 2-2 draw with Lorenzo Pellegrini scoring a penalty in stoppage time to equalise for Roma.
Players to watch: A striker finding his feet
Artem Dovbyk is a name familiar to Athletic Bilbao after the Ukrainian starred for Girona in La Liga last season. Dobyk scored 32 goals in all competitions for Girona last season, with 24 of them coming in the league to earn him the Golden Boot award.
His stay in Spain proved to only be a short one, though, as he departed from Roma this summer in a deal worth more than £30m. Up until the last week, the 27-year-old had been slow to adjust to life in the Italian capital but he finally got his first goal for the club in a draw against Genoa.
Dovbyk followed that goal up with another strike against Udinese this weekend so like all good strikers, he will now be itching for the next game to come around. Athletic Bilbao managed to keep him out last season in La Liga, can they do the same on Thursday?
Predicted line-ups
Roma could be without their captain, Lorenzo Pellegrini, on Thursday with the midfielder a doubt with an unspecified injury. Alexis Saelemaekers and Enzo le Fee are also out for the hosts. Athletic Bilbao are without star man, Nico Williams, and first-choice goalkeeper, Unai Simon.
Roma: Ryan – Mancini, Hermoso, Ndicka – Celik, Kone, Cristante, El Shaarawy – Soule, Dovbyk, Baldanzi
Athletic Bilbao: Agirrezabala – Gorosabel, Paredes, Vivian, Yuri – Ruiz de Galarreta, Vesga – Williams, Sancet, Berenguer – Guruzeta
Anything else catch the eye?
Athletic Bilbao have scored at least one goal in all but one of their seven matches this season while Roma have scored at least once in all the matches they've played at home. Both teams to score on Thursday has been priced at 4/5 by Betfred.
This UEFA Europa League match between Roma and Athletic Bilbao will be played on Sep 26, 2024 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Roma vs Athletic Bilbao prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
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