After a close-fought contest in Rotterdam last week, Roma and Feyenoord reconvene on Thursday evening, when they conclude their Europa League quarter-final tie at Stadio Olimpico.
With a 1-0 win at De Kuip, the Eredivisie leaders took a step towards eliminating the team that denied them victory in last year's Europa Conference League final, but Jose Mourinho's men won a third straight Serie A game without conceding at the weekend and can be tough customers on home soil.
Match preview
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Almost everything that could go wrong did go wrong for Roma in last Thursday's first leg, as not only did captain Lorenzo Pellegrini miss a first-half penalty, before Mats Wieffer drove home a powerful winner for Feyenoord, but forward duo Paulo Dybala and Tammy Abraham were both forced off with injuries.
Nonetheless, the Eternal City side enjoyed a successful return to Serie A duty on Sunday, when Pellegrini redeemed himself by scoring the second goal in a 3-0 win over Udinese, a game in which Edoardo Bove converted the rebound after Bryan Cristante took his turn to miss from the spot; meaning two Romans among a multinational squad had both found the net.
Though it has not always been a joy to watch, Mourinho's pragmatic approach has certainly helped the Giallorossi graft their way to within touching distance of a long-awaited Champions League return.
They have now won their last three Serie A games without shipping a single goal, strengthening their grip on third place in the process, and a total of nine victories without conceding in 2023 is a record equalled only by champions-in-waiting Napoli.
Generally tough to beat at home, Roma's run of 20 European games unbeaten at Stadio Olimpico was only ended with a group-stage defeat against Real Betis, and they also enter Thursday's contest having progressed from each of their last three ties when losing the first leg by one goal - including in this season's playoff round against RB Salzburg.
UEFA Cup runners-up in 1991, Roma are yet to win either the Europa League or its predecessor and are now making only their second appearance in the current competition's quarter-finals, but last year's Conference League triumph has surely whetted their appetite to go further.
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Ahead of this week's trip to the capital, Feyenoord have lost six of their previous nine matches in Italy - most recently against Lazio in this season's Europa League group stage - and their last victory on the peninsula came back in 2002, against Inter in the UEFA Cup.
Perhaps more pertinently, the Rotterdam club have gone without a win in their last five away games in Europe, so they will be all too aware that a semi-final place is far from assured despite holding a slim advantage.
In addition to their defeat of Roma, Arne Slot's side have opened up an eight-point gap at the top of the Eredivisie of late, and a brilliant run of form has only been blotted by losing in the KNVB Beker semi-finals to Ajax earlier this month.
They may have lost De Klassieker, but Feyenoord are still set to win the fight for the title, as a ninth consecutive league victory on Sunday took them one stride closer to succeeding their Amsterdam rivals as Dutch champions: Santiago Gimenez opened the scoring on 17 minutes, before Sebastian Szymanski then struck in the second half, with an own goal then securing a 3-0 win at rock-bottom Cambuur.
Therefore, all efforts can be focused on finishing a job half-done in Europe, as the UEFA Cup winners of 1974 and 2002 aim to secure a first appearance in the Europa League semi-finals - their one previous run in the knockout phase was ended by none other than Roma.
Having also been denied glory in the inaugural Conference League final by the Giallorossi some 11 months ago, they will hope revenge can now be served stone cold amid a white-hot atmosphere at the Olimpico.
Team News
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Though Jose Mourinho has been troubled by the fitness of his first-choice forwards, it is expected that Paulo Dybala - Roma's joint-top Europa League scorer, on three goals - will return in time to feature from the bench on Thursday.
Tammy Abraham seems to have shrugged off a shoulder injury suffered in Rotterdam, but Ola Solbakken and ex-Feyenoord man Rick Karsdorp remain unavailable.
Georginio Wijnaldum began his professional career with Thursday's visitors, scoring 25 goals in 135 appearances for the club between 2007 and 2011, and will seek promotion to the starting XI after being consigned to a second-half cameo at De Kuip.
After being rested at the weekend, Nemanja Matic and Roger Ibanez should return to the lineup, with Stephan El Shaarawy among those dropping out.
Feyenoord, meanwhile, welcomed back first-choice goalkeeper Justin Bijlow from a wrist injury for the first leg and he will start again in Rome.
Arne Slot's midfield trio will be led by captain Orkun Kokcu, and the only significant dilemma for the Dutch league leaders comes on their right flank, where Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Igor Paixao vie for selection - the former started against Roma last week; the latter was picked on Sunday.
Once more, Quinten Timber is Slot's only injury absentee, and the former AZ coach will send his side out in their familiar 4-3-3 formation.
Roma possible starting lineup:
Patricio; Mancini, Smalling, Ibanez; Zalewski, Cristante, Matic, Spinazzola; Pellegrini, Wijnaldum; Belotti
Feyenoord possible starting lineup:
Bijlow; Geertruida, Trauner, Hancko, Hartman; Kokcu, Wieffer, Szymanski; Jahanbakhsh, Gimenez, Idrissi
We say: Roma 1-0 Feyenoord (Feyenoord win on penalties)
Recent masters of winning without conceding, Roma will fancy their chances of cancelling out their deficit at a sold-out Stadio Olimpico, but overall victory could ultimately prove beyond them.
With a talented squad and a winning mentality, it could instead be Feyenoord who will face either Bayer Leverkusen or Union Saint-Gilloise in next month's semi-finals.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Jonathan O'Shea
