Roma vs. VfB Stuttgart Europa League preview: Team news and predicted lineups

Stuttgart travel to the Eternal City this week to face Roma, with both sides looking to climb into the automatic qualification spots for the Europa League Round of 16.

After fantastic wins against Bayer Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt, Stuttgart dropped points at home to Union Berlin on Sunday, with ex-VfB midfielder Jeong Woo-yeong’s late equaliser cancelling out Chris Führich’s strike. 

With seven points from nine, Die Schwaben travel to Rome having not tasted defeat since returning from the winter break, and they are aiming to secure an automatic pathway to the Europa League Round of 16. 

Sitting in 10th, opponents Roma occupy the place directly behind Stuttgart – both sides know that a loss on Thursday would all but condemn them to a play-off spot. 

After exiting the Coppa Italia via a defeat to Torino last Tuesday, Roma got revenge on Toro at the weekend, with goals from Donyell Malen and Paulo Dybala securing a 2-0 away win. 

Gian Piero Gasperini’s side sit fourth in Serie A, and will consider themselves capable of triumphing in Europe given their recent final experience, and their head coach’s exploits with Atalanta just two years ago. 

Team news

Roma defender Mario Hermoso is expected to miss around a month’s worth of action after being forced off against Torino, while Artem Dovbyk, Zeki Celik and Pierluigi Gollini are also absent.

Bilal El Khannouss could be back involved for Stuttgart, after his Morocco side fell to defeat in the AFCON final against Senegal on Sunday. 

Angelo Stiller is expected to be involved, despite being forced off against Union last time out, though Dan-Axel Zagadou, Luca Jaquez and Lazar Jovanovic will all miss the action.

Predicted lineups

Roma – 3-4-2-1: Svilar – Mancini, N’Dicka, Hermoso – Rensch, Cristante, Kone, Wesley – Dybala, Pellegrini – Malen

Stuttgart – 4-3-3: Nübel – Vagnoman, Hendriks, Chabot, Mittelstädt – Nartey, Karazor, Stiller – Leweling, Undav, Führich