Roma and Manchester United will fight at Stadio Olimpico to reach in Europa League final, having prepared in far from ideal circumstances. United had to postpone their weekend match with Liverpool due to chaotic scenes and the hosts slumped to a third successive defeat – leading to their manager’s departure. As Manchester United visit downtrodden Roma in their Europa League semi-final second leg on Thursday, has one foot in the final with last week’s crushing success at Old Trafford. Here’s everything you need to know about Roma vs Manchester United Europa League semi-final second leg.
Team news
Roma lineup: Mirante; Mancini, Smalling, Ibanez; Karsdorp, Cristante, Villar, Peres; Pellegrini, Mkhitaryan; Dzeko
Pau Lopez, Jordan Veretout, and Leonardo Spinazzola are ruled out from Roma due to injury they sustained in the first half of their 6-2 defeat to Manchester United last weekend.
Antonio Mirante made an error for one of United’s goals replacing Lopez in goal last week, while Daniel Fuzato made his first start of the season in goal at the weekend and also made an error leading to an opposition goal. Not great heading into Thursday.
Roma has recovered Gianluca Mancini from suspension if Paulo Fonseca wants to make changes from a side that shipped six goals last time out.
Are you backing @MarcusRashford to break the deadlock against Roma? 🔓
Don't forget to submit your guesses before tonight's starting XI is announced 👇#MUFC #UEL
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) May 6, 2021
Manchester United lineup: De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw; McTominay, Fred; Rashford, Fernandes, Pogba; Greenwood
Manchester United‘s game with Liverpool on Sunday was postponed so Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s players have actually had a full week off. It will no doubt change how the United manager was planning to approach this game.
Solskjaer without any doubt will go with a very strong side to avoid any humiliating turnaround with a place in the final at stake, with a 6-2 advantage from the first-leg, Solskjaer should really be able to play some of his fringe players.
Nemanja Matic, Eric Bailly, Alex Telles, Donny van de Beek and Mason Greenwood stand the best chance of starts from those that didn’t start the first leg in Manchester. Meanwhile, Dan James is out for a little while.
Roma vs Manchester United Prediction
Roma is going to require a comeback similar to the one they produced against Barcelona in the Champions League a few years ago to make the Europa League final, as they faced a 6-2 defeat to Manchester United in the first leg.
Since the first leg match, Manchester United had a whole week off after their Liverpool clash got canceled. With a huge advantage from the first leg, it would require a collapse of epic proportions for them to crash out of the competition from here.
While the pre-game appointment of ex-United manager Jose Mourinho as the Giallorossi’s new head coach from next season adds a dash of excitement to the encounter, his former team should comfortably dismiss any hopes of the home side staging an odds-defying comeback.
Our Prediction: Roma 1-2 Manchester United
