Brighton have arguably the biggest match in the club’s history on to date as they travel to Italy to play the first leg of their Europa League round of 16 tie against Roma on Thursday night. Match Preview By Joe Zelinger
The Seagulls will be hoping for a much-improved performance to that of Saturday’s dismal 3-0 defeat at Fulham. The weekend’s result was hindered by a real lack of imagination from Albion, and Fulham were able to pick off their opponents to run out comfortable winners. The loss saw Brighton drop to ninth in the table and three points off the European places.
Roberto de Zerbi admitted after the game that his side are in a “tough” period at the moment. However, an away performance like Saturday will quickly need to be forgotten if Brighton’s hopes of an extended European run wish to continue.
They approach the fixture after having topped their Europa League group with 13 points. In the group stage, they faced the likes of Ajax and Marseille, and now they take on another side with a lot of European experience.
Despite the Fulham game not being a confidence booster for Brighton, a number of key players were left out. This was most likely in preparation for the upcoming match on Thursday. Simon Adingra, Pascal Gross, Danny Welbeck, Igor and Bart Verbruggen all started on the bench, with only two of them being substituted on.
For Thursday, de Zerbi is expected to recall the majority of these players, but is still going to be without James Milner, Jack Hinshelwood, Kaoru Mitoma, Solly March and Joao Pedro. On a more positive note, Billy Gilmour is expected to be back involved after serving a three-match suspension.
Roma come into the game after having put four past Monza on Saturday to ease to victory, as their resurgence continues under manager and former player Daniele de Rossi. Since sacking Jose Mourinho in January, Roma have lost just one game from seven in the league, against leaders Inter Milan, winning the other six.
So far in the competition, Roma finished as runners up in their group, and had to eliminate Feyenoord in the play-off round to ensure a spot in the last 16. Their win against the Dutch side, which came on penalties, meant Roma have now ended Feyenoord’s European campaign for three consecutive seasons.
De Rossi is expected to have a fully fit squad to choose from on Thursday, with right-back Rick Karsdorp the only absence. Tammy Abraham is also injured, but this has been the case for the whole campaign after he tore his anterior cruciate ligament at the end of last season.
This is the first ever meeting between the two teams, with it being Brighton’s first season in a European competition. This is the opposite for Roma, who have a rich history of qualifying for Europe, despite having never won the Europa League, being runners-up last season and in 1991. However, they did win the inaugural Europa Conference League in 2022.
Brighton will be aiming to stop Roma making it to a European final for the third straight year, and by doing so write new history for the club.
Roma have been very impressive under their new manager, whereas Brighton’s form has been stuttering of late. That being said, the Seagulls are unbeaten away this season so far in Europe, including an impressive 2-0 win at the Johan Cruyff Arena against Ajax.
Prediction: Roma 1-2 Brighton.
