Nice will be desperate to bounce back from their heavy 4-1 defeat at Brest on Saturday when they welcome Roma in the UEFA Europa League, SoftFootball reports. The French side are under pressure to turn things around, while their Italian visitors arrive on the back of a morale-boosting derby win over Lazio, Softfootball reports.
Nice’s European story hasn’t been much to write home about in recent times. After being dumped out of the UEFA Champions League qualifiers by Benfica who softfootball earlier reported recently to have acquired the services of the Portugese Jose mourinho, they’re back in the Europa League for a second straight season.
Last year’s campaign ended in disappointment with no wins from eight group games, and new boss Franck Haise is still waiting for his first ever victory in this competition after ten attempts. Domestic form hasn’t been much better either, with five defeats already this season, three of them coming after trailing at half-time.
Roma, meanwhile, are no strangers to this stage. They’re in the Europa League for the fourth season running, though last year’s last-16 exit was considered a failure given their deep runs in previous editions.
New coach Gian Piero Gasperini knows what it takes to win this competition, having lifted the trophy with Atalanta in 2024, and will be eager to improve Roma’s poor away record in the UEL, where they haven’t won in seven attempts. Still, confidence is high after a gritty 1-0 victory over Lazio, their third win in four games this season all by the same scoreline.
This will be the first time Nice and Roma meet in Europe. History doesn’t favour the French side though, as they’ve lost all seven of their previous encounters with Italian opposition. Roma, on the other hand, have generally handled French sides well, losing just twice in their last 11 such clashes.
Team News
Nice will look to Nigerian striker Terem Moffi, who has already found the net twice this season, although his goals don’t always guarantee results , only three of his last seven scoring appearances have ended in wins. For Roma, captain Lorenzo Pellegrini is the player to look out for, having scored the decisive derby winner on Sunday against Lazio.
Meanwhile, OGC NICE in preparation for wednesday huge clash against AS Roma, posted via their official X handle, an exclsuive video of one of its players taking the fans on a tour of their traning ground before the traning commences, this shows the enjoyablee mood and atmosphere around the club as they return to european nights, see video below;
Nice are still affected by along list of injured players but at least avoided fresh setbacks at the weekend. Roma are hoping on the availability of Paulo Dybala and Leon Bailey, both of whom remain doubts.
Possible lineups
Nice possible starting lineup:
Diouf; Oppong, Bah, Bard; Clauss, Boudaoui, Vanhoutte, Gouveia; Diop, Boga; Moffi
Roma possible starting lineup:
Svilar; Celik, Mancini, Ndicka; Rensch, Cristante, Kone, Angelino; Soule, Pellegrini; Ferguson
AS Roma in anticaption of their first ever game against the french team OGC NICE, to kickstart UEFA Europa league campaign, the team via its official X handle, shared an update to its fans and supporters all over the world, a brief insight about who their wednesday opponents is , see post below;
SoftFootball’s Prediction
Roma’s toughness and Gasperini’s know-how could prove decisive, especially against a Nice side low on confidence and form. Expect a tight match, but Roma’s habit of grinding out 1-0 results may help them out here.
Prediction: Nice 0-1 Roma
