The Europa League draw returned an exciting verdict for Italian teams, with an Old Firm double-header standing in Roma’s path to the knockout stages and a showdown with tournament favourites Aston Villa awaiting Bologna.

Fiorentina were handed a relatively benign draw as they look to finally lift the Europa Conference League after losing the final in 2023 and 2024 and coming unstuck in the semi-final last season.

As is the case for the Champions League, while the league phase fixtures have been determined, the calendar will be decided over the weekend.

Here, Destination Calcio breaks down the Europa League and Europa Conference League draws and what they mean for the Serie A contingent.

Bologna can target European glory

Bologna’s maiden Champions League campaign last season was a tale of too little, too late. The Rossoblu lost four and drew two of their first six games, scoring just once in the process, before beating Borussia Dortmund at home and drawing away against Sporting in their final game.

The late rally proved futile as Bologna finished with six points, five adrift of the play-offs spots. But there were positives to take from the journey, chief among them the fact Vincenzo Italiano’s squad now has a season of European experience under their belts.

Slow starters on the domestic and continental fronts last term, the Rossoblu hit their stride in winter and looked poised to return to the Champions League, before a brutal run-in coupled with the hangover of a first trophy in 51 years put paid to those dreams.

The Coppa Italia triumph has shown Italiano takes cup competitions seriously and there is no reason why Bologna cannot make inroads in Europe too. A trip to Villa Park is a difficult test and away fixtures against Maccabi Tel Aviva and Celta Vigo can be tricky, while the journey to Romania to face Steaua Bucharest looks an easier challenge on paper.

Of the four teams to visit the Renato Dall’Ara, Red Bull Salzburg are arguably going to be Bologna’s toughest opponent.

Celtic carry far more threat at home than they do away and a side that was shocked by Kairat Almaty in the qualifying stages of the Champions League should arguably not be too much of a concern for the Felsinei.

Brann and Freiburg, meanwhile, are far from prohibitive challenges.

Roma head to Glasgow twice as titanic battles await

Roma have a couple of huge clashes in Glasgow to look out for.

Gian Piero Gasperini’s men will travel to Scotland twice, to face Rangers and Celtic, after the pair were dismissed from the Champions League qualifying round in not-so-glamorous circumstances.

Yet that’s not the only boisterous atmosphere awaiting the Giallorossi, as a trip to Greece to face Panathinaikos is also on the cards.

That being said, Roma should be more than capable of securing nine points on the road from those three sides while they also have a trip to the south of France to face Nice.

At home, Roma will welcome Lille, who are now devoid of all their best players following the departure of Jonathan David and more than likely winger Edon Zhegrova.

Home games against Viktoria Plzen and Midtjylland should bring points.

Yet the standout fixtures are clearly against Rangers and Celtic, which could prove feisty on and off the pitch.

Roma have done well in the Europa League in recent years, and there should not be any reason why they cannot make the top eight places and gain automatic entry into the round of 16.

That is if they take it seriously, yet considering Gasperini’s squad is not the biggest, there may be a decision to make further down the line if results are not going the way most envision.

Can Fiorentina exorcise demons?

Fiorentina will again be among the forerunners to win the Conference League.

This is the their fourth consecutive campaign in the competition and they have reached two finals and a semi. Stefano Pioli will be looking to get them over the line.

The best tie of the lot is the home game against Dynamo Kyiv, with Fiorentina besting the Ukrainian side en route to the 1990 UEFA Cup final.

Matches against Rapid Vienna, Mainz, AEK Athens, Sigma Olomouc and Lausanne-Sport throw up decent opportunities for Pioli’s men to take maximum points, whether home or away.

That being said, having come agonisingly close several times over the past few seasons, it remains to be seen if the will is still there to undergo another deep run in the competition.

Perhaps focusing on Serie A and attempting to win a Europa League spot may be a better use of La Viola’s energy.

Fiorentina and Crystal Palace will be among the favourites, and it would not be a surprise if one of them were to win the competition.

Will the Tuscan side make it fourth time lucky?

Fixtures to watch out for

Over the past two seasons, Bologna have made a habit of selling players to the Premier League, with Joshua Zirkzee, Riccardo Calafiori and Dan Ndoye all swapping the Renato Dall’Ara for the glitz, glamour and financial might of the English top flight.

And now the Felsinei get to test themselves against a Premier League club on the pitch, as they travel to Birmingham to face Aston Villa.

Three times a Europa League winner with Sevilla between 2014 and 2016, Unai Emery was a beaten finalist in 2019, before steering Villarreal to their maiden European triumph two years later as he lifted the trophy for a fourth time.

The Spaniard has taken Villa to a Europa Conference League semi-final in 2024 and lost to eventual champions Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League quarter-finals last season. Lifting the Europa League and delivering Villa’s first European trophy since the 1982 European Cup would cement him as a club legend.

As Bologna found out last season, when they lost 2-0 in the Champions League, Villa Park can be an intimidating place on a European night.

The glory days of Andriy Shevchenko and Valeriy Lobanovskyi are long gone and football is understandably an afterthought amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, but Fiorentina’s home match against Dynamo Kyiv is arguably the pick of the bunch as far as their fixtures are concerned.

Dynamo have been knocked out in the Champions League qualifying rounds in three of the past four seasons and finished third-bottom in the Europa League first phase, so their trip to the Artemio Franchi will be a relatively free hit for them.

As far as Roma are concerned, it is hard to look past the Glasgow double header in terms of marquee fixtures. Roma, surprisingly, have never faced either side in their history, making the games even more intriguing.

Roma haven’t played a Scottish side since the infamous games against Dundee United in the semi-final of the 1984 European Cup, in which the Giallorossi were accused of bribing French referee Michel Vautrot with £50,000 in order to throw the second leg in Rome after the Scottish side had demolished them 2-0 at Tannadice.

Memories will come flooding back in the days leading up to those games, adding a sense of tension and drama to what will already be eagerly anticipated clashes.

Roma should have enough about them to win the majority of their matches but none will get the juices flowing like trips to the Old Firm pair.

Predictions

While the Glasgow double-header and the trip to Villa Park could prove tricky, Roma and Bologna should both have enough to reach the Europa League round of 16 without having to navigate the play-offs and the same applies to Fiorentina in the Conference League.