Roma vs Salzburg facts

Roma must turn around their UEFA Europa League knockout play-off against Salzburg at the Stadio Olimpico if they are to make the last 16 of a European competition for the ninth successive season, the Austrian champions having dented the Serie A side's ambitions by striking late in the first leg to claim a 1-0 victory.

Roma, the inaugural UEFA Europa Conference League winners, managed to avoid returning to that competition by finishing runners-up in UEFA Europa League Group C to Real Betis thanks to a decisive 3-1 home win against Ludogorets on Matchday 6. Salzburg, meanwhile, made their fourth successive UEFA Champions League group stage appearance in the autumn, but unlike last season were unable to make further progress, finishing third – as they had done in both 2019/20 and 2020/21. That meant a return to their familiar hunting ground of the UEFA Europa League, where they are appearing in the competition proper for a record-equalling 11th time.

Previous meetings

The clubs met for the first time in UEFA competition on 16 February, and it was Salzburg who emerged victorious thanks to Nicolás Capaldo's 88th-minute header, the home side's goalkeeper Philipp Köhn having also distinguished himself as Roma failed to score for the first time in 25 European away matches and 34 continental fixtures overall.

That was Roma's first defeat in seven European encounters with Austrian sides (W3 D3), and they are now without a win in three having been held to two draws by Wolfsberg in the 2019/20 UEFA Europa League group stage (1-1 a, 2-2 h). Although they are unbeaten at home to Austrian visitors (W1 D2), the Giallorossi have drawn the last two fixtures.

Salzburg had encountered Italian opposition 20 times before the first leg of this tie, including twice against AC Milan in this season's UEFA Champions League group stage – a 1-1 home draw on Matchday 1 and a 4-0 away defeat on Matchday 6 in a game they needed to win to qualify at the Serie A side's expense.

That defeat was Salzburg's 11th against Italian opposition and their sixth in Italy, where they have won twice, most recently at the Stadio Olimpico against Lazio when they scored an added-time winner to defeat Roma's city rivals 2-1 on their UEFA Europa League debut in 2009/10.

Overall Salzburg's record in two-legged ties against Italian clubs is W2 L3, the most recent a defeat to Napoli in the 2018/19 UEFA Europa League round of 16 (0-3 a, 3-1 h) after they had dramatically overcome Lazio in the quarter-finals of the same competition the season before (2-4 a, 4-1 h). The club's most famous two-legged tie was the 1993/94 UEFA Cup final, which they lost to Inter Milan (0-1 h, 0-1 a).

Form guide

Roma

José Mourinho's team qualified for the 2022/23 UEFA Europa League group stage via two routes last season – as the sixth-placed side in Serie A and the first winners of the UEFA Europa Conference League, which they claimed with a 1-0 win against Feyenoord in the Tirana final. It was the Italian club's maiden success in a major UEFA competition.

The Giallorossi got off to a false start this term in UEFA Europa League Group C, losing their opening game 2-1 at Ludogorets. They also went down by the same score at home to Betis on Matchday 3, but seven points from their last three matches lifted them into second place to maintain their further progress.

UEFA Cup runners-up in 1990/91, the Giallorossi are making their sixth appearance in the UEFA Europa League knockout phase. They have won their opening tie on each of the last four occasions and were semi-finalists two seasons ago, eliminating Braga, Shakhtar Donetsk and Ajax before going out to Manchester United (2-6 a, 3-2 h). All of Roma's European campaigns in the last eight seasons have extended to at least the round of 16.

Roma's run of 20 European games unbeaten at the Stadio Olimpico (W14 D6) ended on Matchday 3 with that defeat against Betis, which is also their only loss at home in the UEFA Europa League group stage (W10 D4). In the competition's knockout phase their home record is W5 D2 L3 with no defeats in the last six matches (W5 D1).

Roma's aggregate record is W9 L16 when they have been beaten away in the first leg of a UEFA tie, the most recent having ended successfully when they came back from a 2-1 defeat at Bodø/Glimt to win the return leg of last season's UEFA Europa Conference League quarter-final 4-0 in Rome. When they have lost the first away leg 1-0, Roma have won three of the seven ties, but they have lost each of the last three, most recently succumbing to Slovan Bratislava in the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League qualifying play-offs (1-1 h).

Salzburg

Matthias Jaissle's side secured Salzburg's 16th league title – and ninth in a row – in 2021/22, adding the Austrian Cup to make it a fourth successive domestic double and a ninth in total, all in the last 11 seasons. The German head coach also led the team to their most successful UEFA Champions League campaign as they reached the round of 16 for the first time before an ultimately emphatic loss against Bayern München (1-1 h, 1-7 a).

This term Salzburg made an encouraging start in the UEFA Champions League and were unbeaten after four group matches, a 1-0 home win against Dinamo Zagreb supplementing three 1-1 draws – at home to Milan and away to Chelsea and Dinamo – before closing defeats at home to Chelsea (1-2) and away to Milan ultimately relegated them to third spot.

The Austrian side are therefore making a ninth appearance in the UEFA Europa League knockout phase – just one fewer than record-breakers Ajax. They have fallen at the first hurdle on five of their previous eight participations, including each of the last two, and have progressed beyond the round of 16 just once, in 2017/18, when they claimed that memorable comeback win over Lazio to reach the semi-finals before losing an equally thrilling last-four tie after extra time to Marseille (0-2 a, 2-1 h).

Salzburg are without a win in seven European away matches – all in the UEFA Champions League (D3 L4). In the UEFA Europa League knockout phase their record on the road is W2 D2 L9 with defeats in all of the last six matches.

Salzburg have won 12 of the 18 UEFA competition ties in which they were victorious in the home first leg, including all of the last three, the most recent against Brøndby in last season's UEFA Champions League play-offs (2-1 h, 2-1 a). Their aggregate record in ties in which they have won 1-0 at home in the first game is W4 L2, the first two successes having come en route to the 1993/94 UEFA Cup final when they defeated Antwerp in round two (1-0 a) and Eintracht Frankfurt on penalties in the quarter-final (0-1 a).

UEFA Europa League squad changes

Roma

In: Diego Llorente (Leeds, loan), Georginio Wijnaldum
Out: Eldor Shomurodov (Spezia, loan), Filippo Tripi (Mura), Matías Viña (Bournemouth, loan), Nicolò Zaniolo (Galatasaray)

Salzburg

In: Amankwah Forson (Rheindorf Altach, end loan), Oscar Gloukh (Maccabi Tel-Aviv), Jérôme Onguéné (Eintracht Frankfurt, loan)
Out: Antoine Bernède (Lausanne, loan), Youba Diarra (Cádiz), Nico Mantl (Aalborg, loan), Kamil Piątkowski (Gent, loan), Roko Šimić (FC Zürich, loan), Maximilian Wöber (Leeds)

Links and trivia 

Roma's Mile Svilar and Salzburg's Strahinja Pavlović both play for Serbia.

Salzburg pair Junior Adamu and Nicolas Seiwald both started Austria's 2-0 friendly win against Italy in Vienna on 20 November 2022.

Roma pair Leonardo Spinazzola and Bryan Cristante participated in Italy's 2-1 win against Austria in the round of 16 at UEFA EURO 2020.

Salzburg's Jérôme Onguéné had a short spell on loan in Italy's Serie A with Genoa in 2021. He was an unused substitute in a 1-0 defeat at Roma.

Salzburg are making their 11th appearance in the UEFA Europa League, group stage to final – a record they share with Ajax. This is the Austrian club's 76th match in the competition.

Mourinho led Manchester United to victory in the 2016/17 UEFA Europa League. He is the only coach still active in the competition this season to have previously won it.

While Roma sit third in Serie A following their 1-0 win at home to Verona on Sunday evening, Salzburg are on a 16-match unbeaten run in the Austrian Bundesliga and boast a six-point lead at the top of the table.

Penalty shoot-outs

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 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

Salzburg's record in two UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W1 L1:
5-4 v Eintracht Frankfurt, 1993/94 UEFA Cup quarter-final
2-3 v Dinamo Minsk, 2015/16 UEFA Europa League play-off