Leicester vs Roma facts

Leicester City kick off their first ever European semi-final with a home game against Roma, both teams having reached the last four of the UEFA Europa Conference League with memorable quarter-final second-leg comebacks.

• Leicester finished third in UEFA Europa League Group C during the autumn, two points behind both Spartak Moskva and Roma's southern Italian rivals Napoli, after losing 3-2 in Naples on Matchday 6. They have, however, come through three UEFA Europa Conference League ties, the first in some comfort against Randers (4-1 h, 3-1 a), the second and third after tight contests with Rennes (2-0 h, 1-2 a) and PSV Eindhoven (0-0 h, 2-1 a) respectively, late goals from James Maddison and Ricardo Pereira in the Netherlands securing the club's historic progress to the semi-finals.

• Despite taking only one point off Bodø/Glimt in their two autumn encounters, sensationally losing 6-1 away and drawing 2-2 at home, Roma pipped their Norwegian rivals to top spot in UEFA Europa Conference League Group C, hitting 18 goals – the most of any team in the group stage – before edging past Vitesse in the round of 16 (1-0 a, 1-1 h). Paired once more with Bodø/Glimt in the quarter-finals, José Mourinho's team lost again in Norway, 2-1, but recovered to win 4-0 in Rome, Tammy Abraham scoring first before Nicolò Zaniolo's spectacular hat-trick.

Previous meetings
• Leicester had never met Italian opposition in UEFA competition until their two UEFA Europa League group games against Napoli earlier this season, Ayoze Pérez and Harvey Barnes putting the Foxes 2-0 up in a 2-2 home draw on Matchday 1, and Jonny Evans and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall finding the net in the 3-2 away defeat on Matchday 6.

• This is Roma's first encounter with English opposition since they lost to Manchester United in last season’s UEFA Europa League semi-final, going down 6-2 in the first leg at Old Trafford before winning the Stadio Olimpico return 3-2. That aggregate defeat was their eighth in succession in two-legged UEFA ties against English clubs following victories in their first three.

• Roma have won only one of their 18 UEFA fixtures in England, losing 11. Even the solitary victory, 1-0 at Liverpool in the fourth round of the 2000/01 UEFA Cup, was academic as they had lost the home leg 0-2. They have conceded 14 goals on their last three visits to England and also endured their heaviest away defeat in UEFA competition in the country, losing 7-1 to Manchester United in the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg.

Form guide
Leicester
• Leicester booked back-to-back appearances in the UEFA Europa League group stage by winning the FA Cup for the first time in their history last May thanks to a 1-0 victory in the final against Chelsea. However, in a repeat of the previous season Brendan Rodgers' side just missed out on UEFA Champions League qualification, finishing fifth in the Premier League after spending almost all of the campaign in the top four.

• The Foxes won their UEFA Europa League group last season on their competition debut but were eliminated in the round of 32 by Slavia Praha (0-0 a, 0-2 h). This term they won two, drew two and lost two of their six Group C games with Napoli, Legia Warszawa and Spartak, the highlight a 4-3 win in Moscow where new signing Patson Daka scored all four goals. The East Midlanders' subsequent record in the UEFA Europa Conference League is W4 D1 L1 F12 A5.

• This is Leicester's first European semi-final, in just their sixth season of UEFA competition.

• Leicester were undefeated in nine European home games (W7 D2), winning all six group encounters at the Leicester City Stadium with the concession of just one goal, until last season's defeat by Slavia. Rodgers' side are unbeaten at home in the current European campaign (W4 D2), keeping clean sheets in their last two matches after conceding at least once in each of the first four. The club's all-time home record in Europe is now W11 D6 L2.

Roma
• Roma finished seventh in Serie A last season, 29 points behind champions Inter, to become Italy's first UEFA Europa Conference League representatives. After topping their 2020/21 UEFA Europa League group, which included Young Boys, CFR Cluj and CSKA-Sofia, Paulo Fonseca's side eliminated Braga, Shakhtar Donetsk and Ajax in the knockout phase, only to bow out to Manchester United in the semi-finals.

• Now led by another Portuguese coach, Mourinho, Roma won both legs of their UEFA Europa Conference League play-off against Trabzonspor, and although Bodø/Glimt got the better of them in their Group C head-to-head encounters, the Giallorossi took maximum points off both CSKA-Sofia (5-1 h, 3-2 a) and Zorya Luhansk (3-0 a, 4-0 h) to finish a point ahead of their Norwegian rivals at the top of the group – before eliminating them in the quarter-finals.

• This is Roma's sixth appearance in a UEFA semi-final. They have won two of the previous five but lost the last two – both against English opposition – with last season's UEFA Europa League elimination by Manchester United preceded three years earlier by a 7-6 aggregate defeat in the UEFA Champions League by Liverpool (2-5 a, 4-2 h). Roma's last European semi-final victory came against Brøndby in the 1990/91 UEFA Cup (0-0 a, 2-1 h).

• Despite being hit for six by both Manchester United and Bodø/Glimt on recent excursions abroad, Roma have won nine of their last 13 European away matches, scoring at least two goals in all of those victories except the most recent, in Arnhem. Indeed, they have found the net in their last 20 European away fixtures (W11 D2 L7), since a 3-0 defeat at Real Madrid on Matchday 1 of the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League.

Links and trivia
• Roma have three Englishmen in their squad – defender Chris Smalling (Fulham 2008–10, Manchester United 2010–20), midfielder Ainsley Maitland-Niles (Arsenal 2014–, Ipswich 2015/16 loan, West Bromwich Albion 2021 loan) and striker Abraham (Chelsea 2016–21, Bristol City 2016/17 loan, Swansea 2017/18 loan, Aston Villa 2018/19 loan).

• Other Roma players to have appeared in the Premier League are Jordan Veretout (Aston Villa, 2015/16), Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Manchester United 2016–18, Arsenal 2018–20) and Rui Patrício (Wolves 2018–21).

• Mkhitaryan scored for United in a 3-0 win at Leicester in the 2016/17 Premier League.

• Roma boss Mourinho has considerable experience of English football, having been in charge of Chelsea (2004–07, 2013–15), Manchester United (2016–18) and Tottenham Hotspur (2019–21). He won seven major trophies with Chelsea, including three Premier League titles, and a UEFA Europa League/League Cup double with United in 2016/17.

• Leicester manager Rodgers was a youth and reserve team coach at Chelsea during Mourinho's first spell at Stamford Bridge.

• Mourinho was unbeaten in his first five Premier League meetings with Rodgers (W4 D1), the first four of them for Chelsea against Liverpool, including a famous 2-0 win at Anfield eight years ago, but lost the most recent, when Leicester won 2-0 at Tottenham on 20 December 2020 with Jamie Vardy on the scoresheet.

• Mourinho's only other defeat in ten Premier League games against Leicester (W7 D1) was a 2-1 away loss as Chelsea boss on 14 December 2015 – a result that prompted his dismissal three days later. His next match against Leicester, his first as Manchester United manager, brought a 2-1 win at Wembley in the FA Community Shield the following August. Vardy scored for Leicester in both games.

• Leicester's Timothy Castagne played in Italy for Atalanta between 2017 and 2020. He scored in both Serie A games against Roma during 2018/19, two 3-3 draws, making the Rome club the only one he has scored more than one goal against in his professional career.

• Roma defender Roger Ibañez was a team-mate of Castagne at Atalanta in 2018/19, though he only made one appearance for the Bergamo club.

• Leicester's Ricardo and Roma's Sérgio Oliveira played together for Porto in 2017/18 and are both Portuguese internationals along with Rui Patrício.

• Daniel Amartey (Leicester) and Felix Afena-Gyan (Roma) started together in both legs of Ghana's recent 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying play-off success against Nigeria.

• Abraham is the joint leading scorer in the UEFA Europa Conference League with eight goals, level with Cyriel Dessers of Feyenoord.

• Although Roma were Inter-Cities Fairs Cup winners in 1961, they have never won a UEFA club competition, losing two finals – the 1984 European Cup on penalties to Liverpool after a 1-1 draw in Rome, and the 1991 UEFA Cup over two legs to Serie A rivals Inter (0-2 a, 1-0 h).

• Leicester dropped one place to tenth in the Premier League after drawing 0-0 at home to Aston Villa on Saturday – their third successive league game without a win – while Roma remained fifth in Serie A despite falling to their first defeat in 13 league matches, 3-1 away to title-chasing Inter.