2021-22 UEFA Europa Conference League Semi-Finals: Second Leg – AS Roma vs Leicester

AS Roma welcome Leicester City to Stadio Olimpico in the second leg of their semi-final tie in 2021-22 UEFA Europa Conference League. 

Following a 1-1 draw in the first leg, victory would be enough to see either team through to the Final against Feyenoord or Marseille, whilst another draw would see the tie go to extra-time and potentially penalties.

 

Team News

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Henrikh Mkhitaryan is AS Roma’s only absentee after he suffered a muscle injury in the first leg last week.

Leicester could welcome Kieran Dewsbury-Hall and James Maddison back into contention after the pair missed Sunday’s Premier League defeat at Tottenham with respective hip and calf injuries.

Ryan Bertrand and Wilfred Ndidi remain absent with knee injuries.

 

Stat Attack

• AS Roma are unbeaten against Leicester following their only previous meeting, which finished 1-1 in the first leg at the King Power Stadium last week.
• Leicester are visiting AS Roma for the very first time in all UEFA competitions, although the Foxes lost their only previous away visit to Italy 3-2 at Napoli in December 2021.
• Roma have won five of their last six home matches against English opposition in all UEFA competitions (W5, L1).
• Tammy Abraham has scored four goals in Roma’s last three home matches in this season’s competition.
• Three of Leicester’s six away goals in this season’s UEFA Europa Conference League have been scored by James Maddison.

 

Prediction

With this tie firmly in the balance, Roma should be happy with how they played on the counter-attack efficiently in the first leg at Leicester, which gives them the initiative on home turf especially given their strong home form against English opposition in Europe.

Leicester meanwhile need a reaction to Sunday’s sloppy display at Tottenham where they played well on the attack, yet a mixture of inaccurate shots, poor refereeing and lacklustre marking proved their downfall so I expect them to come here looking for a much more solid performance of recent weeks.

This though feels like Roma’s to lose because they are a solid all-round team with top talent capable of ripping Leicester’s defence apart, yet the Foxes definitely won’t make this easy by any stretch so I expect a tough battle.

Prediction: AS Roma 2-1 Leicester

Result: AS Roma 1-0 Leicester (AS Roma win 2-1 on aggregate!!)