Turkish delight for Mourinho’s men?
Tricky Trabzonspor Test
Jose Mourinho’s Roma get their campaign underway with a Europa Conference League qualifying fixture in Turkey against Trabzonspor. Thursday night sees both sides looking to progress into UEFA’s new competition. A place in the group stage is on offer for the winner of this tie across both legs. In the qualifying round prior to this, Trabzonspor needed penalties to beat Norwegian side Molde but in the league they triumphed 1-5 away at Yeni Malatyaspor on Monday. Drawing both of their matches against Molde, Trabzonspor are without a win in the Europa Conference League. Having said this, they are unbeaten across their last 19 games in all competitions, so they’ll be no easy pickings for Mourinho’s men.
Tammy more, Tammy more!
Roma come into this fixture with a completely new look. Not only on the touchline with Mourinho joining the club but losing striker Edin Dzeko to Inter Milan this summer means they’ll be looking to new signing Eldor Shomurodov to provide the goals. Of course, the biggest news surrounding Roma in the past couple of days is the acquisition of former Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham, shelling out £34m for the Englishman. It’s unlikely Abraham will have joined up with the squad out in Turkey on Thursday, let alone be in line for a starting spot. But stranger things have happened when Mourinho is at the helm! For the hosts, they have a number of recognisable names in their ranks and a couple of players many of the Roma squad will be all too familiar with. Gervinho for one, played 71 times for Roma between 2013-16 and scored for Trabzonspor at the weekend. Another ex-Roma player now plying his trade with Trabzonspor is right-back Bruno Peres, who accumulated 94 appearances for the Giallorossi. As well as these two, manager Abdullah Avci has Marek Hamsik, Anthony Nwakaeme and Djaniny at his disposal, with the hosts clearly making a statement in the summer to push for the Turkish Super Lig title.
Roma all the way?
Roma received a bye in the previous round of these qualifiers, and are many bookies’ favourites to win the whole competition. I’m sure that, with their recent transfer business, they’re many fans picks to triumph in the Europa Conference league too. While Mourinho has somewhat of a reputation for being a defensively minded coach, they’ve shown their attacking capabilities early in pre-season and will look to continue on the front foot on Thursday. They open their Serie A account against Fiorentina on Sunday, but I doubt anyone will be rested for that fixture as Mourinho will want a positive outcome heading into the second leg.
I can see this being quite an open game judging on both sides’ recent results, mainly from the hosts’ side with their high scoring recent fixtures. That’s why I’m going with both teams to score with bet365.
Post bet chat Archie's Tips:
1-2 Roma win, goals from Lorenzo Pellegrini, an equaliser straight off the bench from Cornelius for the hosts, and a Shomurodov winner sees this one come through despite a less than lively first half.