Royale Union Saint-Gilloise vs Roma

Stade Roi Baudouin is the venue as Royale Union Saint-Gilloise and Roma go head-to-head in a high-stakes UEFA Europa League encounter.

After bowing out of the UEFA Champions League qualification playoffs at the hands of Slavia Prague, Royale Union Saint-Gilloise’s Europa League campaign has been off to a dreadful start. Yet to win a continental fixture this term (D1, L4), the hosts commence this round in 29th position, five places from a playoff spot. As if that’s not concerning enough, they’ve failed to get on the scoresheet in their last three European home matches. Consistency has been a massive issue for Royale Union this season, especially on home turf, where they’ve alternated between different outcomes in all nine competitive fixtures this season (W4, D3, L2). Those three draws came in their last six games at home, with each yielding a 0-0 scoreline.

In the meantime, Roma slumped to a disappointing 3-2 Serie A defeat at Hellas Verona last weekend, heightening the pressure on manager Ivan Juric. Stuck in the bottom half of the league standings, ‘I Giallorossi’ return to Europe’s second-tier competition, where they’ve blown hot and cold this term (W1, D1, L1), seeking a much-needed respite after a narrow 1-0 home triumph against Dynamo Kyiv. However, the visitors have notoriously struggled away from home this season, going winless on all seven competitive road trips (D4, L3). Before the abovementioned loss at Verona, they had failed to score more than once on their six previous travels.