Preview: Sevilla vs. Roma - prediction, team news, lineups

Sevilla and Roma face off in arguably the pick of the Europa League last-16 ties on neutral soil in Germany on Thursday evening.

The tie will be contested over just one leg and pits together sides that finished fourth and fifth in their domestic leagues this season.

Either Wolverhampton Wanderers or Olympiacos await the winners off this match in the quarter-finals of the condensed tournament, which will be played out over the next three weeks.

Match preview

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No team has won the Europa League/ UEFA Cup more often than Sevilla, who remain on course for their sixth success in UEFA's secondary competition.

The Champions League is the competition Los Nervionenses would truly like to win, of course, but when they enter the Europa League they tend to do pretty well.

Indeed, since the competition's rebranding in 2009-10, they have reached the quarter-finals on three occasions, going on to win the competition each time (2014, 2015 and 2016).

Sevilla saw off CFR Cluj in the last round and enter this game unbeaten in 17 matches either side of the coronavirus stoppage, which led to the postponement of this tie in March.

That includes a run of five wins and a draw in their last six La Liga matches to finish fourth, ensuring that they will compete in the Champions League next season.

All focus is now on Thursday's all-or-nothing showdown with Roma, who also concluded their domestic campaign in impressive form, going unbeaten in their last eight matches.

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Seven of those games ended in victory, including a final-day win over champions Juventus, seeing them finish comfortably in fifth.

Unlike opponents Sevilla, the Giallorossi need to go all the way in the Europa League if they are to qualify for next season's Champions League after a one-season absence.

However, Roma have won just one of their last seven encounters against Spanish sides, losing five of those and failing to score in the same number of games.

By comparison, Sevilla have won their last two encounters against Italian opposition - against Lazio home and away in last season's Europa League last 32.

Los Nervionenses went on to suffer a shock last-16 defeat to Slavia Prague but, with no distractions this time around, Julen Lopetegui 's men are rightly considered one of the favourites to lift the trophy once again.

Sevilla's Europa League form: WWWLDD

Sevilla's form (all competitions): WWWWDW

Roma's Europa League form: DLWDWD

Roma's form (all competitions): WDWWWW

Team News

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Tomas Vaclik missed Sevilla's final four league games of the season and is not expected to return for this match, so Yassine Bounou should continue to operate in goal.

Midfielder Fernando is also a doubt, as is Nemanja Gudelj after testing positive for coronavirus, while Ever Banega and Sergio Reguilon have left the club since the last round.

Munir El Haddadi has scored five goals in five Europa League appearances this term, but Suso and Lucas Ocampos are expected to get the nod either side of Luuk de Jong.

As for Roma, Jordan Veretout is suspended as a result of an accumulation of yellow cards and Lorenzo Pellegrini and Antonio Mirante are injured.

Chris Smalling 's loan spell from Manchester United has expired and he is therefore ineligible to play any further part in the Europa League.

Mert Cetin and Federico Fazio are pushing for inclusion in the heart of defence, with Fonseca likely to retain a 3-4-2-1 formation.

Sevilla possible starting lineup:

Bounou; Navas, Carlos, Kounde, Escudero; Torres, Fernando, Jordan; Suso, De Jong, Ocampos

Roma possible starting lineup:

Lopez; Ibanez, Mancini, Kolarov; Peres, Cristante, Diawara, Spinazzola; Zaniolo, Mkhitaryan; Dzeko

We say: Sevilla 1-0 Roma

Sevilla have had an extra two weeks' rest compared to Roma heading into this match, but it remains to be seen just how much of an advantage - or indeed disadvantage - that will be. Both sides ended their domestic campaigns in impressive form, but we can see Sevilla edging this first ever competitive meeting between the clubs.