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Salzburg and Roma will meet for the first time in European competition when they meet in the UEFA Europa League (UEL) knockout stage play-offs, with the Austrian champions withdrawing from the UEFA Champions League (UCL) after losing their last two group stage matches (W1, D3, P2). This will be the ninth time that Salzburg have participated in the UEL knockout phase, just one less than record holders Ajax.
The host team began the 2023 calendar year with a 2-1 Austrian Cup loss to Sturm Graz, but reacted last weekend with a 4-0 league win against Austria Lustenau that left manager Matthias Jaissle «confident» to face a «world-class team that will push us to the limit». In fact, Salzburg are hoping to improve on their all-time record against Italian teams (W5, D4, L11), with their most recent defeat coming in their last UCL match against Milan, which condemned him to «relegation» to this UEL play-off.
The first UEFA Europa Conference League champions, Roma, qualified for this stage at the last moment thanks to their comeback victory over Ludogorets in their last game of the UEL group stage (3-1). The Italian team continues to perform better in 2023 (W5, D2, L2), although their last 1-1 draw against Lecce was a disappointment for the fans despite coach José Mourinho assessing their performance as “a good match ”.
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There was good news for Roma on Saturday with the return to the pitch of Georginio Wijnaldum, who made his second appearance for the “Giallorossi” after a broken tibia sidelined him for 180 days. He will hope that his team can extend their excellent away record of just one loss in their last 11 official appearances of this type (W6, D4).
Players to watch: Noah Okafor has scored three UCL goals for Salzburg this season, including the opener in their 1-1 home draw against Italian champions Milan. Meanwhile, Lorenzo Pellegrini scored twice in Roma’s UEL win over Ludogorets, which was part of his three second-half goals in his five appearances in Europe this season.
Notable fact: Roma have never lost to an Austrian side in six previous games (W3, D3).