Lazio will mark their return to Europe with a visit from Dutch side Feyenoord this Wednesday.
Venue: Stadio Olimpico (Rome)
Key Statistics
Lazio have progressed from the group stage of the Europa League (UEL) in seven of their last nine appearances.
The hosts have drawn their last four UEL home matches (W1).
Only Villarreal (88) have made more appearances in the Europa League group stage than Lazio (78).
Feyenoord have progressed from the UEL group stage only once in their four appearances since 2009/10.
The visitors have won four of their last five games (D1), scoring 4+ goals on three occasions.
They have won in just one of their 12 away UEL matches (D3, L8), whilst failing to score on eight occasions.
Head to head
Feyenoord have the upper hand in this fixture, winning once and drawing one of the two meetings between both sides.
Latest performances in all competitions
Lazio: L-D-W-D-W
Feyenoord: W-W-W-D-W
Lazio
Lazio will look to get back to winning ways when they welcome UEFA Europa Conference League finalists Feyenoord to Stadio Olimpico in the first group game of the season.
The hosts come into this game on the back of a disappointing 2-1 loss to Napoli in Serie A, leaving them with just one win in their last four games (D2) and two points behind the top six.
They will hope that their return to the Europa League for their 78th game in the competition, which is second only to Villarreal (88) since the tournament’s rebrand will be a happy one.
The Rome-based side are perennial UEFA Europa League (UEL) competitors and are set for a joint-best tenth UEL tournament appearance. And given that they have progressed from the group stage in seven of the previous nine seasons, they’re the bookmakers’ choice to do so again in this group that also consists of Sturm Graz and Midtjylland.
Possible Lazio starting line-up
Ivan Provedel; Manuel Lazzari, Patric, Alessio Romagnoli, Adam Marusic; Toma Basic, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Danilo Cataldi; Felipe Anderson, Ciro Immobile, Mattia Zaccagni.
Injured: None
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Feyenoord
Feyenoord will look to continue their unbeaten start to the season when they face Maurizio Sarri’s side on Thursday.
The visitors ended the previous season on a disappointing note, losing to Lazio’s city neighbours, AS Roma, in the UEFA Europa Conference League final. But they have cast the disappointment of the old season behind them, with four wins and a draw from their opening five games of the season.
As such, they come into this tie sitting second in the Dutch Eredivisie table, having scored 14 goals in five games while conceding only five.
Having led the team to the Conference League final last season, Arne Slot will hope to build on their shared experience from last season. However, his team have a poor record in the UEL especially away from home where they have won just one of their last 12 away games (D3, L8).
But given the form they are currently in, they will fancy their chances of getting a positive result from this first game as they look to qualify from this group.
Possible Feyenoord starting line-up
Justin Bijlow; Jacob Rasmussen, Gernot Trauner, David Hancko, Andre Bjorkan; Sebastian Szymanski, Quinten Timber, Orkun Kokcu, Javairo Dilrosun, Patrik Walemark, D. Pereira da.
Injured: Marcus Pedersen, Ezequiel Bullaude
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Prediction
Lazio 1-2 Feyenoord
