Amid more turmoil off the pitch, Roma resume their Europa League campaign, when they meet Union SG at Stade Roi Baudouin. The Italian side are struggling in Serie A and have won only once in Europe, while their hosts have picked up just one point from three games so far. When Roma recently earned a first Europa League win of the season, edging out Dynamo Kyiv at Stadio Olimpico as Artem Dovbyk struck the winner against his fellow Ukrainians.
After a rocky start in Rome, where fans have been protesting against the board and lamenting the loss of club legend Daniele De Rossi – who occupied the dugout before Juric – it seemed that the Croatian coach was on borrowed time. That win, following an opening draw with Athletic Bilbao and then defeat in Sweden to Elfsborg, lifted Roma up to 19th in the Europa League table, but they have since slid down to 12th in Serie A.
Their new boss has recorded just four wins in 10 matches, leading to speculation that club owners, the Friedkin Group, would re-hire one of his predecessors, such as De Rossi or Claudio Ranieri – the latter of whom retired from management when leaving Cagliari. Against that background, Roma must head to Brussels, where history will at least be on their side: they are undefeated in 14 meetings with Belgian teams since the mid-1970s.
Union will prepare for this week’s encounter in even worse shape than their Italian counterparts, as a 1-0 loss away to Midtjylland last month left them occupying 29th place in the Europa League standings – trailing the playoff places by two points.
Despite having 16 more shots than their opponents so far, Sebastien Pocognoli’s side are winless from three league-phase matches, having also been beaten by Fenerbahce and drawn with Bodo/Glimt since being knocked out of Champions League qualifying.
Pocognoli may have begun his reign by lifting the Belgian Super Cup, but Union are treading water in the Belgian Pro League this season, sitting 10th following a draw and a defeat in their two most recent outings. Les Unionistes did have a rare taste of success when beating Eupen in the Belgian Cup at the end of October, but that was their sole win from six games last month.
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