Lyon – Roma

Olympique Lyonnais versus Roma is one of the most interesting games in the Europa League 1/8-fiinals on Thursday night.

Both teams are among the favourites to win the trophy. The French club eliminated AZ Alkmaar during the 1/16-finals, while Luciano Spalletti’s Roma managed to beat another very tough and classy team – Vilarreal.

Now it’s once again time for some fine football, because these two teams are arguably possesing a lot of class and qualities.

Taking into account that Olympique Lyonnais are 15 points behind Nice in the Ligue 1 standings, winning Europa League remains the club’s only chance of playing Champions League football next season. As you probably know, winning this competition is guaranteeing a place in the Champions League for the next season.

Roma on the other hand are already 8 points behind the leader Juventus in the Serie A, but they are in a pretty much comfortable position to chase a direct qualification to the Champions League for next season. If they want this, they have to win the battle for the 2nd spot with Napoli and maybe Lazio.

In the last round of the Serie A Roma lost the crucial derby against Napoli at home, but they still remain at 2nd place in the standings.

Olympique Lyonnais also didn’t win their last Ligue 1 game, after a 1-1 draw against Bordeaux away from home. For now Bruno Genesio’s team is holding an Europa League spot in the Ligue 1, but winning a Champions League qualification would be the best possible scenario for the club.

We should expect an attacking and attractive football between two very positive and offensive-minded teams. This is a difficult game to predict, because they seem pretty similar in terms of quality, but one thing is for sure – we should expect some goals!