Sevilla vs Roma Europa League preview: where to watch, team news

Roma take on Sevilla in the UEFA Europa League round of 16 on 6 August at 18:55 CET. This page will update with team news, quotes and expert analysis as kick-off approaches.

Where to watch the game on TV

Fans can find their local UEFA Europa League broadcast partner(s) here.

The teams

Sevilla (ESP)
UEFA ranking: 11 (2 among UEFA Europa League sides)
Domestic position: 4 (final match: 19 July)
How they got here: Group A winners, 1-1 CFR Cluj (away goals)
Last season: round of 16 (lost 6-5 v Slavia Praha, aet)
Previous UEFA Cup/Europa League best: winners (2005/06, 2006/07, 2013/14, 2014/15, 2015/16)

Roma (ITA)
UEFA ranking: 15 (3)
Domestic position: 5* (final match: 1 August)
How they got here: Group J runners-up, 2-1 Gent
Last season: UEFA Champions League round of 16 (lost 4-3 v Porto, aet)
Previous UEFA Cup/Europa League best: runners-up (1990/91)

Possible line-ups

Sevilla: Vaclík; Navas, Diego Carlos, Koundé, Reguilón; Fernando, Jordán, Banega; Ocampos, Munir, De Jong
Out: Gudelj (illness)
Doubtful: Vaclík (knee)
Misses next game if booked: Gudelj
Players added to squad: Javi Díaz, Pablo Pérez, Juan Luis Sánchez
Players removed from squad: Felipe Chacartegui, Javi Pérez, Nolito, Amo, Daniel Carriço, Rony Lopes

Roma: Pau López; Mancini, Ibañez, Kolarov; Bruno Peres, Diawara, Cristante, Spinazzola; Mkhitaryan, Zaniolo; Džeko
Out: Veretout (suspended)
Doubtful: Pellegrini (fractured nose)
Misses next game if booked: Kluivert
Players added to squad: Bruno Perez, Ibañez, Nicolò Zaniolo
Players removed from squad: Mert Çetin, Javier Pastore, Chris Smalling

Reporter's view

This promises to be a fascinating match with two sides in red-hot form facing off against each other for a place in the last eight. A confident Sevilla are undefeated in all competitions since February, while Roma are fresh from seven wins in their last eight, including a comprehensive 3-1 victory over Juventus last time out in Serie A.
Joseph Walker

What the coaches say

Julen Lopetegui, Sevilla coach: "Roma are on a great run; they’ve got a great squad and finished the season as the Italian league's form side. We’re really up for it, but we know we’ll have to be the best version of ourselves. It's like a final and we need to give our all. This is a competition that goes hand-in-hand with the history of the club, and that should help us bring out our best."

Roma coach Paulo FonsecaAFP

Paulo Fonseca, Roma coach: "We are totally focused and ready to play; we aren't thinking about anything else. It is an important moment for us and we come into this game with confidence and optimism. We know it's a difficult match against a great team. All games are important to me; I always want to win. It's an important game for us, but our ambition is the same in every game."

Previous meetings

• Sevilla's previous 12 UEFA competition matches against Italian opposition have brought five wins and five defeats. Their most recent encounters came against Roma's city rivals Lazio in last season's UEFA Europa League, a 1-0 win in Rome preceding a 2-0 victory in Seville. Their sole meeting with Italian opposition at a neutral venue came in the 2007 UEFA Super Cup in Monaco and resulted in a 3-1 defeat by AC Milan.

• Roma have won just 11 of their 34 UEFA encounters with Spanish clubs (D5 L18) and only one of the last seven (D1 L5) – though the victory was particularly memorable, 3-0 at home to Barcelona to overturn a first-leg 1-4 deficit and win their 2017/18 UEFA Champions League quarter-final.

Form guide

Sevilla
• Sevilla played 16 UEFA Europa League matches last season, progressing from the second qualifying round to the round of 16, where they were dramatically eliminated by Slavia Praha after an extra-time defeat in the Czech capital. The Andalusian club re-qualified for this competition by finishing sixth in the 2018/19 Liga, which secured an automatic group stage berth.

• The three-time UEFA Europa League winners have never failed to progress from their group, making it five qualifications out of five this term and doing so as group winners for the third time. They defeated both Qarabağ and Dudelange home and away and also won 1-0 at home to APOEL before ending the section with a defeat by the same scoreline in Cyprus. Their final tally of 15 points was the most achieved by any team in this season's group stage, although the two draws against CFR mean they are now without a win in three European matches.

• Sevilla have won three of their previous four UEFA Europa League round of 16 ties, their only defeat having come last season against Slavia (2-2 h, 3-4 a). The wins came in their trophy-winning campaigns of 2013/14 (on penalties against local rivals Real Betis after both clubs lost 0-2 at home), 2014/15 (3-1 a, 2-1 h v Villarreal) and 2015/16 (0-0 a, 3-0 h v Basel).

• Sevilla have a positive record on German soil in UEFA competition (W6 D1 L3), all of those matches having been played against German hosts.

Roma
• Roma finished sixth in the 2018/19 Serie A, missing out on UEFA Champions League qualification for the first time in six years. They were defeated 4-3 on aggregate after extra time by Porto in last season's round of 16 having reached the 2017/18 semi-finals.

• The Giallorossi's third participation in the UEFA Europa League group stage, like the previous two, ended in qualification for the knockout phase, although unlike in 2009/10 and 2016/17 they did not top their group. Late goals were conceded in drawing at home and losing away to Borussia Mönchengladbach and they could only manage two draws against Wolfsberg.

• While the victory against Gent was Roma's third in succession in the round of 32, they have lost both of their previous two UEFA Europa League round of 16 ties, going out to fellow Italian club Fiorentina in 2014/15 (1-1 a, 0-3 h) and Lyon in 2016/17 (2-4 a, 2-1 h). Their only round of 16 success in the last seven attempts over the two European club competitions came in 2017/18 when they eliminated Shakhtar Donetsk from this stage of the UEFA Champions League on the away goals rule (1-2 a, 1-0 h).

• Roma have already played in Germany this season, losing 2-1 at Mönchengladbach on Matchday 4 – their tenth defeat in 13 visits to the country, where they have won just twice. Like Sevilla, they have never previously played a neutral UEFA fixture in Germany.

Links & trivia

• Roma's Argentinian defender Federico Fazio made 152 Liga appearances and scored 12 goals for Sevilla between 2007 and 2016.

• Roma have three Spanish players in their squad – Pau López, Gonzalo Villar and Carles Pérez. Goalkeeper López played for Sevilla's city rivals Betis in 2018/19 before moving to the Italian capital, while Nikola Kalinić spent last season at Atlético Madrid and is currently on loan to Roma from the Liga club.

• Four Sevilla players have experience of Italian football – Franco Vázquez played for Palermo from 2012–16, Éver Banega was an Internazionale player in 2016/17 (and scored his first Inter goal against Roma), while Lucas Ocampos played on loan for Genoa and AC Milan, also in 2016/17, and Suso is currently on loan to the Spanish club from Milan, where he arrived in 2015.

• Roma's Aleksandar Kolarov was at Manchester City with Sevilla's Jesús Navas (2013–17) and Fernando (2014–17). He is also a current Serbian national team-mate of Sevilla's Nemanja Gudelj.

• Edin Džeko was also a team-mate of Navas and Fernando during his time at Manchester City (2011–16).

• There are three Argentina internationals in Sevilla’s squad – Banega, Vázquez and Ocampos – and two in Roma's – Fazio and Diego Perotti.

• Sevilla's Luuk de Jong and Roma's Justin Kluivert are Dutch internationals, while Navas and López both currently play for Spain.

• Sevilla are one of two former UEFA Europa League winners in this season's round of 16, along with Manchester United.

• Sevilla have scored 121 goals in the UEFA Europa League, group stage to final, and need three more to equal the competition record held jointly by Villarreal and Salzburg. They have also registered 38 wins, the same number as Villarreal but one fewer than top-ranked Salzburg.

• The Andalusian club finished the 2019/20 Liga season in fourth place, thereby qualifying for the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League group stage for the sixth time.

Penalty shoot-outs
 • Sevilla's record in six UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W5 L1:
4-3 v PAOK, 1990/91 UEFA Cup first round
3-1 v Espanyol, 2006/07 UEFA Cup final
2-3 v Fenerbahçe, 2007/08 UEFA Champions League round of 16
4-3 v Real Betis, 2013/14 UEFA Europa League round of 16
4-2 v Benfica, 2013/14 UEFA Europa League final
5-4 v Athletic Club, 2015/16 UEFA Europa League quarter-final

• Roma's record in four UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W1 L3:
4-2 v Norrköping, 1982/83 UEFA Cup second round
3-4 v Liverpool, 1983/84 European Champion Clubs' Cup final
3-4 v Real Zaragoza, 1986/87 European Cup Winners' Cup first round
6-7 v Arsenal, 2008/09 UEFA Champions League round of 16