Manchester United vs Roma: UEFA Europa League background, form guide, previous meetings

Sunday, April 25, 2021

Manchester United are eager to shed a semi-final hoodoo as they take on Roma, who are bidding to become the second Italian finalists in successive seasons.

Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring in Manchester United's 7-1 win against Roma in 2007 Manchester United via Getty Imag

Manchester United, who are through to the last four of the UEFA Europa League for the second successive season, will be eager to shed a semi-final hoodoo as they take on a Roma side bidding to become Italy's second finalists in as many seasons.

• Ole Gunnar Solskjær's team competed in the UEFA Champions League during the autumn, defeats in their final two Group H fixtures leaving them in third place on nine points behind Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig. They have subsequently come through three UEFA Europa League ties, comfortably disposing of two Spanish clubs, Real Sociedad (4-0 a, 0-0 h) and Granada (2-0 a, 2-0 h), either side of a tightly contested round of 16 tie against Italian giants AC Milan (1-1 h, 1-0 a).

• Roma kicked off their European campaign in the UEFA Europa League group stage, registering 13 points as they topped Group A, three ahead of fellow qualifiers Young Boys. They then convincingly ousted two of coach Paulo Fonseca's former clubs, Braga (3-0 a, 3-1 h) and Shakhtar Donetsk (3-0 h, 2-1 a), before edging past Dutch league leaders Ajax in the quarter-finals (2-1 a, 1-1 h).

Previous meetings
• United and Roma have been paired together three times previously in UEFA competition, their six encounters, all in the UEFA Champions League, taking place within a 12-month period from April 2007 to April 2008.

• The first match-up was in the 2006/07 quarter-final, Roma winning the first leg 2-1 at the Stadio Olimpico before suffering what is still their heaviest European defeat in the return, current United assistant coach Michael Carrick scoring twice as Sir Alex Ferguson's team overwhelmed Luciano Spalletti's visitors 7-1 at Old Trafford.

• The following season the teams were drawn together twice more, first in the group stage, with United winning 1-0 at home and drawing 1-1 away, then once more in the quarter-finals, where Ferguson again got the better of Spalletti as the English side won the first leg 2-0 in Rome before completing the job with another 1-0 victory in Manchester. United would go on to lift the trophy for the third time, defeating Chelsea on penalties in the Moscow final.

• United's overall home record against Italian visitors is W13 D3 L3, one of the draws coming in the most recent encounter, 1-1 against Milan in this season's round of 16, which was United's first UEFA Europa League fixture against a Serie A club.

• United have won their last four two-legged knockout ties against Italian opposition, taking their all-time record to W7 L6. They also lost the 1999 UEFA Super Cup to Lazio (0-1).

• This is Roma's first encounter with English opposition since they lost to Liverpool in a high-scoring 2017/18 UEFA Champions League semi-final (2-5 a, 4-2 h). That defeat was their seventh in succession in two-legged UEFA ties against English clubs following victories in their first three.

• Roma have won only one of their 17 UEFA fixtures in England, losing ten including those three at Old Trafford. 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.

Form guide
Manchester United
• United, the 2016/17 UEFA Europa League winners, finished third in the Premier League last season, when they also lost three semi-finals – in the English League Cup, the FA Cup and the UEFA Europa League. Their league position enabled them to compete in the UEFA Champions League group stage for the 23rd time.

• Solskjær's side got off to a flier in Group H, beating Paris 2-1 away and Leipzig 5-0 at home, but they lost three of their last four fixtures – 1-2 at İstanbul Başakşehir, 1-3 at home to Paris and 2-3 away to Leipzig – to drop down into third place.

• The Manchester club have appeared in the UEFA Europa League semi-finals twice previously, winning the first of them, in 2016/17 against Celta Vigo (1-0 a, 1-1 h), with Marcus Rashford scoring the winner in Spain, but losing last season against another Liga club, Sevilla, who defeated them 2-1 in a one-off encounter in neutral Cologne.

• United are unbeaten in their last 17 home games in the UEFA Europa League (W13 D4), winning five in a row before the draws this spring against Real Sociedad and Milan. They have not conceded more than once in any of their 17 home UEFA Europa League encounters since losing 2-3 to Athletic Club in the 2011/12 round of 16, keeping clean sheets in six of the last eight.

Roma
• Roma finished fifth in Serie A last term to qualify for the UEFA Europa League group stage for the second season running and fourth time in all. Like United, Fonseca's side were eliminated from the competition last season by eventual winners Sevilla, going down 2-0 in neutral Duisburg in the round of 16, which was the furthest the club had gone in the UEFA Europa League until this season – though they were UEFA Cup runners-up in 1990/91.

• The Giallorossi made it four qualifications from as many UEFA Europa League group stage participations this term, and a third as section winners. They secured this season's round of 32 place with two group games to spare, doing the double over both Young Boys (2-1 a, 3-1 h) and CFR Cluj (5-0 h, 2-0 a) but dropping points in both games against bottom-placed CSKA-Sofia (0-0 h, 1-3 a).

• The Rome club's handsome knockout phase successes over Braga and Shakhtar were followed by victory over Ajax, which has put them into the last four of the UEFA Europa League for the first time. It is 30 years since they last reached the semi-finals of this competition, in its former guise as the UEFA Cup, when they overcame Danish club Brøndby (0-0 a, 2-1 h) before going on to lose the two-legged final to fellow Italians Internazionale.

• Roma's overall away record in the UEFA Europa League knockout phase is W5 D2 L2, with three wins out of three this term, though the one in Braga ended a seven-game run without a victory outside Rome in springtime European football (D1 L6).

Links and trivia
• Rashford's next appearance in UEFA club competition will be his 50th.

• Manchester United's David de Gea and Roma's Pau López are fellow Spanish international goalkeepers.

• There are two former United players in the Roma squad – defender Chris Smalling, who joined the Giallorossi on loan from United in 2019 after nine years at Old Trafford before making the move permanent last summer, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who was with the Manchester club from July 2016 to January 2018.

• Both Smalling and Mkhitaryan were in the United side that won the 2017 UEFA Europa League final against Ajax, the Armenian international scoring the second goal in the 2-0 win. Alongside them were current United players Sergio Romero, Paul Pogba (scorer of the first goal), Juan Mata, Rashford and substitute Anthony Martial.

• Pogba played in Italy for Juventus between 2012 and 2016, winning Serie A in all four of his seasons there plus two domestic cups. He never scored in seven Serie A matches against Roma (W5 L2).

• United striker Edinson Cavani played in Italy for Palermo (2007–10) and Napoli (2010–13), scoring nine Serie A goals against Roma – two in six games for Palermo and seven in six for Napoli, including a hat-trick in a 4-1 home win on 6 January 2013.

• Bruno Fernandes began his career in Italy, playing for Novara (2012/13), Udinese (2013–16) and Sampdoria (2016/17). He scored once against Roma, for Udinese in a 1-2 home defeat on 13 March 2016. His record against the Giallorossi in all competitions was W1 L5.

• Alex Telles played 21 Serie A games for Internazionale in 2015/16 but did not feature against Roma.

• Amad Diallo joined United from Atalanta in January having made just four league appearances for the Bergamo club, scoring once.

• Romero played for Sampdoria between 2011 and 2015, making 71 Serie A appearances. He was unbeaten in three games against Roma (W1 D2).

• Edin Džeko, who scored Roma's equaliser in the quarter-final second leg against Ajax, spent four and a half seasons with United's local rivals Manchester City, scoring 72 goals in 189 appearances for the club and winning two Premier League titles, the FA Cup and the English League Cup. He scored Premier League doubles against United at Old Trafford on two occasions – in a 6-1 win on 23 October 2011 and a 3-0 success on 25 March 2014. He was also on target for City in a 3-2 defeat by United in the 2011 FA Community Shield.

• Džeko also faced United as a Wolfsburg player in the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League group stage, scoring his team's consolation goal in both matches (1-2 a, 1-3 h).

• Roma's Pedro Rodríguez was a Chelsea player from 2015 to 2020, winning the Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Europa League and scoring 43 goals in 206 appearances for the London club, including one in nine Premier League outings against United, before joining Roma. He was also a scorer for Barcelona against United in the 2011 UEFA Champions League final, which the Spanish side won 3-1 at Wembley.

• Roma pair Davide Santon (Newcastle 2011–15) and Jordan Veretout (Aston Villa 2015/16) have also played in England.

• Have played together:
Amad Diallo & Roger Ibañez (Atalanta 2019/20)
Victor Lindelöf & Bryan Cristante (Benfica 2014–16)
Eric Bailly & Pau López (Espanyol 2014/15)
Nemanja Matić & Pedro Rodríguez (Chelsea 2015–17)

• Roma's Borja Mayoral is the joint top scorer in this season's UEFA Europa League with seven goals – the same number as Pizzi and Yusuf Yazıcı of eliminated Benfica and LOSC Lille respectively.

• United are the only club in this season's semi-finals to have won the UEFA Europa League/UEFA Cup. They are also alone among the four remaining participants in having won the UEFA Champions League/European Cup.

• United are just the fourth club to have appeared in the UEFA Europa League semi-finals in back-to-back seasons, after Benfica, Sevilla (three in a row) and Arsenal.

• United's overall home record against Italian visitors is W13 D3 L3, one of the draws coming in the most recent encounter, against Milan in this season's round of 16, which was United's first UEFA Europa League fixture against a Serie A club.

• United have won their last four two-legged knockout ties against Italian opposition, taking their all-time record to W7 L6. They also lost the 1999 UEFA Super Cup to Lazio (0-1) – their only final against a Serie A side.