Roma on the Road – Brighton v Roma Match Preview
Brighton are back in European action on Thursday night and face the monumental task of overturning their 4-0 defeat against Roma from the first leg of the Europa League Round 16 clash.
The seagulls picked up a much-needed win last weekend in a 1-0 victory over bottom end of the table Nottingham Forest.
Roberto de Zerbi’s men had lost five of their last eight games prior to their weekend win, which has taken them up to eighth in the Premier League table – just a point short of the top seven and potentially another shot at qualifying for Europe again next season.
However, before dreaming of another European tour, the Sussex side need to face the mammoth task of overturning a 4-0 first leg deficit.
No team in Europa League has ever overturned a four-goal deficit from the first leg, but Brighton have had many magical nights under the lights at the Amex Stadium in recent years, so a miracle is not out of the question entirely.
Midfielder Jakub Moder told the Albion website, “It’s obviously going to be a very difficult night for us, especially after the 4-0 defeat in Rome.
“But we have to believe that we can score four goals. As Roma scored four goals, we can also score four goals. So we keep that belief and we go on Thursday and try to win 4-0.”
He went on to add, “We created chances [in the first leg]. Danny Welbeck had two chances, great saves from the Roma keeper, and we also could have defended a couple of goals [better].
“So we just have to improve a couple of things and obviously we showed before that we can score many goals against big teams like Man United, Tottenham, Liverpool. So we can do it against Roma.”
The Giallorossi ran riot with goals from Paulo Dybala, Romelu Lukaku, Bryan Cristante and Gianluca Mancini.
Roma’s win over the seagulls in the Eternal City made it five wins in a row across all competitions.
Daniele de Rossi’s men continuted their winning streak by snatching a 95th minute equaliser in Sunday night’s 2-2 draw at Fiorentina in the Serie A league.
Since being under de Rossi, the Italian side now sit only three points behind the top four after a slow start to the season under previous manager Jose Mourinho.
According to The Athletic, Brighton have made several requests to UEFA for further investigation into events which unfolded in the Italian capital.
The night before the match two fans were caught up and suffered lower body wounds when they were stabbed. The supporters were later discharged with injuries that were not serious.
Other incidents being investigated include images of an offensive sign aimed at the late Queen Elizabeth II, but also reports of homophobic signs in the stands.
The most interesting request that has been lodged is Mancini goals to put Roma 3-0 up, VAR gave the all-clear, but suspicions remain of Mancini actually being offside when he got on the end of Stephan El Shaarway’s cross.
The Europa League does not use Semi-Automatic Offside Technology unlike Serie A, and the replays given on television were inconclusive, yet VAR still gave the all-clear even though access to different camera angles was readily available.
The second leg takes place at the Amex Stadium on Thursday at 8pm.
