Fonseca: We'll have to be at our best

The Giallorossi were drawn in a group with Borussia Monchengladbach, Istanbul Basaksehir and Wolfsberger AC at UEFA's draw event on Friday.

And Fonseca believes his side will be coming up against quality opponents.

“The Europa League is becoming a mini-Champions League, these are great sides,” Fonseca told Roma TV.

“We know our strengths and we want to get through the group."

On each individual opponent, he added: “The Bundesliga is a great league, Gladbach finished fifth last season and had the third-best defence in the league. Their coach has won the Austrian league twice. Last season in the Europa League they won all six of their group games.

“Basaksehir fought for the title in Turkey last season and only just fell short. They had the best defence in the league. They have players with a lot of experience, like Arda Turan and Robinho. The have to be respected.

“Wolfsberger will be fired up. We don’t know them very well and because of that we will have to study them closely to avoid any potential surprises.

“It’s a tough group and we will have to play our best to get through to the knockout stage.”