Injured AS Roma hosts Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League semifinals at Stadio Olimpico this Thursday night. It is incredible to see how many injured players Il Lupi has, and this club went from stars to dust in a matter of weeks. Mourinho’s team was playing outstanding football, and was in the top-four zone in Serie A, with everything going in their favor, but bad luck struck, with all that collapsing. On the other side is Leverkusen, who posted excellent results until this Friday when they lost to FC Koln at home.
Before starting, here are more Champions and Europa League previews
Preview
AS Roma (+110) didn’t win in the past four events. After a spectacular extra-time victory over Feyenoord in the Europa League quarterfinals, Roma had an extremely tough schedule, and on top of that, more than half of their starters have been injured.
At first, we saw Il Lupi losing to Atalanta, 3-1, in a game that started the unlucky streak, after that they played 1-1 against Milan, then 1-1 against Monza before losing to Inter at home this Saturday night, 0-2.
Mourinho’s woes continue because he won’t have several of his top players 100% fit for this event. However, that is a weapon in Portuguese’s hands, with him putting pressure on Leverkusen.
Bayer Leverkusen (+275) snapped its 14-game defeatless streak this Friday night, losing to FC Koln at home, 1-2. It was arguably the biggest upset in Bundesliga’s previous round and something that uneased Leverkusen’s fans.
Not only because their favorites lost before Thursday’s event, but due to the fact that their deficit for the top-four teams in the domestic championship is even wider at this point. The chances of Leverkusen securing the Champions League ticked through Bundesliga are minimal.
Leverkusen didn’t lose in nine consecutive events away from home, and in the past five, we’ve seen them keeping clean sheets on four occasions. That’s something new compared to the early stage of the year, when Bayer’s games were extremely efficient, with goals on both ends of the pitch.
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Marash Kumbulla is out for the hosts, while Paulo Dybala, Georgino Wijnaldum, Chris Smalling, and Andrea Belotti all having minor issues with their health.
Patrik Schick, Andrey Lunev and Charles Aranguiz are all out for the guests, who are already used to playing without this trio.
Head to Head Games
Roma and Leverkusen played in the 2004/05 Champions League groups stage, and we saw Bayer’s 3-1 win at home and a draw in Rome, 1-1. Eleven years later, they again met in the UCL group stage, having two fantastic contests. The first was in Leverkusen, and we saw a 4-4 draw. After that, Roma triumphed at Olimpico, 3-2.
Predictions
Some of Mourinho’s “sad” claims about the injuries are true, but he surely overexaggerated a little bit. Roma is in trouble, but not as big as he claims. Bayer’s morale might be shaken with a draw against Koln, but the Germans are coming to Rome to win, and that’s a fact. We expect to see a game without too many goals because both teams play like that in recent times, Roma at home, and Leverkusen on the road, which is why we suggest picking under 2.5 scores.
Pick: Under 2.5 goals -125
Nikola Velickovic is a sports journalist who loves to write and read on all sports. Nikola contributes both news updates and functions as a sports breaking news writer at WagerBop.
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