Europa League Preview: Lazio and Roma Bid for European Glory After a Summer of Change

This season the UEFA Europa League will abandon the group stage and adopt the same format as the Champions League, the so-called Swiss-style model in which a league stage replaces the traditional eight pools of four.

In total, 36 clubs are competing in the European football’s second tier competition. Each team plays eight different opponents and the results are tallied into a league table. The top eight progress directly through to the Round of 16, while teams between ninth and 24th take part in a play-off round to determine the remaining eight clubs to qualify for the knockout stages.

As Emmet Gates explained in our Champions League Preview, Serie A’s much improved UEFA coefficient ranking meant the top five Italian clubs qualified for the tournament – Inter Milan, AC Milan, Juventus, Bologna and last season’s Europa League winners Atalanta.

Roma and Lazio, which finished sixth and seventh, respectively, are Serie A’s two Europa League representatives in the new-look league phase, which kicks off on September 26.

Lazio

After making the knockout stages of the Champions League last season, Lazio ended the Serie A campaign in seventh place. The Biancocelesti have never won the competition, formerly known as the UEFA Cup until 2009, but finished as runners-up to Inter in 1998.

Lazio restructured from top to bottom during the summer, bringing in new manager Marco Baroni from Hellas Verona to replace Igor Tudor. Given that big personalities like Ciro Immobile, Felipe Anderson, and Luis Alberto departed, the dressing room will have a totally different feel.

And that’s a tremendous amount of lost experience regarding continental competitions: 150 matches and 44 goals, to be precise. Their direct replacements are prodigies Tijjani Noslin and Loum Tchaouna, as well as 27-year-old forward Boulaye Dia, who have played 14 games between them in Europe.

Undoubtedly, Baroni’s main aim will be to unlock the potential of new additions and build for the future. The first fixture is away in Hamburg against Dynamo Kyiv, followed by Nice at the Stadio Olimpico. Expect their toughest opponents to be Porto, Real Sociedad and Ajax.

How far Lazio can go depends on domestic obligations: Baroni has only won twice in the opening five rounds and will be under pressure to push for UEFA qualification again next season. President Claudio Lotito will be hovering.

Lazio Europa League fixtures (UEFA coefficient ranking: 32): Porto H, Ajax A, Real Sociedad H, Braga A, Ludogorets H, Dynamo Kyiv A, Nice H, Twente A

Roma

Having lost the final to Sevilla two years ago, Roma were then eliminated at the semi-final stage by Bayer Leverkusen in 2024. Aside from lifting the Conference League under Jose Mourinho, the Giallorossi‘s only other European silverware is the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, the precursor of the UEFA Cup.

Roma’s most demanding games are expected to be against Tottenham Hotspur, Athletic Club, and Eintracht Frankfurt. But considering Daniele De Rossi’s early dismissal, replaced by Ivan Jurić in mid-September, La Lupa must find form quickly before the Basque visits the Stadio Olimpico.

There are potential banana skins away in Elfsborg, Union Saint-Gilloise and AZ Alkmaar. Like Lazio, Roma will play Dynamo Kyiv, who finished second in the Ukrainian Premier League last season.

Of last season’s key players, only Romelu Lukaku and Leonardo Spinazzola have moved on from the red and yellow. Sporting director Florent Ghisolfi splashed €110 million (£92m) on Artem Dovbyk, Matthias Soulé, Manu Koné and Enzo Le Fée and reinforced diligently in defence with Mats Hummels and Mario Hermoso.

The big question was how long it would take Jurić to get them winning again, after the Giallorossi started the season with three draws and one defeat under Daniele De Rossi. Repeating Atalanta’s feat is not impossible if Roma can find momentum. The 3-0 win over Udinese was just what the former Torino coach needed.

Roma’s Europa League fixtures (UEFA coefficient ranking 6): Frankfurt H, Tottenham A, Braga H, AZ Alkmaar A, Dynamo Kyiv H, Union Saint-Gilloise A, Athletic Club H, Elfsborg A

How the Europa League league and knockout phases work

The top eight sides qualify directly for the knockout phase and will receive a bye to the round of 16. The teams finishing in 9th to 24th place will compete in a two-legged first-round play-off to secure their path to the round of 16

Teams that finish 25th or lower will be eliminated, with no access to the Conference League. Bilbao will host the Europa League final.

Knockout phase play-offs: 13 & 20 February 2025

Round of 16: 6 & 13 March 2025

Quarter-finals: 10 & 17 April 2025

Semi-finals: 1 & 8 May 2025

Final: 21 May 2025

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