Portuguese side Porto host Roma in the first leg of their Europa League play-off on Thursday, and we’ve got the latest team news and predicted lineups, as well as a score prediction included in our preview.
Porto vs Roma Preview
With qualification for the round of 16 on the line, Liga Portugal side Porto welcome Serie A outfit Roma to the Estadio do Dragao in one of the standout fixtures of the Europa League knockout phase play-off round.
Porto rounded off the league phase with a narrow 1-0 win over Maccabi Tel-Aviv on MD8, which was their first victory in six across all competitions, and confirmed an 18th place finish in the table.
That was Argentine manager Martin Anselmi’s first game in charge since joining from Cruz Azul last month, however he has failed to lead his side to another win since, with each of their last two league outings ending in draws.
Their most recent stalemate came against rivals and Portuguese top-flight leaders Sporting, whom they drew 1-1 with last Friday, leaving them in third place in the table, eight points adrift of top spot.
As for Roma, they finished the league phase in 15th place, one point ahead of their play-off opponents, and they comfortably beat Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 in their MD8 fixture at the end of last month.
Since then, they have drawn against Napoli, lost to AC Milan in the Coppa Italia and, most recently, beaten Venezia 1-0. In terms of their domestic standings, Claudio Ranieri’s side find themselves in a disappointing ninth place.
Thursday’s clash will be the first time that Porto and Roma have met in Europe since the 2018/19 season, when the Portuguese giants prevailed 4-3 on aggregate in the Champions League round of 16.
Porto Team News
The hosts remain without injured trio Ivan Marcano, Martim Fernandes and Marko Grujic, while they will also have to deal with the absence of Nico Gonzalez, who departed for Manchester City last month.
Returning to the squad, and very likely to the lineup, after serving his one-match suspension is Brazilian defender Otavio.
Roma Team News
As for the visitors, Alexis Saelemaekers, Leandro Paredes and Manu Kone should all return to Ranieri’s lineup after missing the win over Venezia at the weekend.
In terms of injuries, there’s little to report, however both Saelemaekers and Mats Hummels are one yellow card away from suspension.
Porto vs Roma Predicted Lineups
Porto Predicted Lineup:
Costa; Otavio, Perez, Djalo; Mario, Eustaquio, Varela, Mora, Moura; Pepe, Aghehowa
Roma Predicted Lineup:
Svilar; Mancini, Hummels, Ndicka; Saelemaekers, Paredes, Kone, Angelino; Dybala, Pisilli; Dovbyk
Porto vs Roma Prediction
The UK’s best football betting sites have identified Porto as narrow 27/20 favourites to prevail in the first leg, while a victory for Roma is priced at around 2/1 and a draw is valued at 12/5.
Based on recent results, mainly the hosts’ tendency to draw and the visitors’ unpredictability, we at SportsCasting are backing this one to end in a 1-1 stalemate, leaving it all to play for in next week’s second leg at the Olimpico.
Prediction: Porto 1-1 Roma
