Stat Attack: Facts to know ahead of Sevilla showdown

Here are 10 pre-match facts worth knowing ahead of the one-off last-16 tie, which gets underway at 18:55 CEST...

A newfound rivalry

This is the first competitive meeting between the two teams in their history, played in unfamiliar surrounds for both sides, at Duisburg’s MSV Arena.

The sides have previously faced each other in friendlies, however, with the Giallorossi losing 2-1 in August 2017 at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan in the Trofeo Antonio Puerta.

Aiming for history

This is the third time Roma have reached the Europa League last-16 stage in the competition's current guise, and victory over Sevilla would put them into the quarter-finals of the revamped competition for the first time in the club’s history.

On a roll

Roma's European challenge is aided by a superb run of form that saw Paulo Fonseca’s team end the Serie A campaign eight games unbeaten, with the 3-1 victory over Juventus on the final matchday making it seven wins out of eight during that run - and four wins on the bounce.

Good run doesn’t stop there

The Giallorossi have lost just one of their last nine Europa League matches - a run that dates back to their 2-1 win over Lyon at the same stage of the competition in March, 2017 - and they progressed from Group J and then the round of 32 with a record of W3, D4, L1 earlier this season.

In the goals...

Roma have failed to score just twice in their last 18 Europa League matches. They have found the back of the net in every European outing so far this term, with nine of their 10 goals in the 2019-20 competition coming in the first half of matches.

... with continental goal-getters

Edin Dzeko and Nikola Kalinic have each scored 15 goals in the Europa League over the course of their careers and are both just three goals from the 18-goal mark that would see them enter the tournament’s all-time list of top 10 goalscorers, since the UEFA Cup was reimagined in 2009-10.

The leading man

Of Dzeko’s 15 Europa League goals, he has scored 11 in a Roma shirt - more than any other player for the club - with three of those strikes and a further three assists chalked up this term.

The inside men

There are three Spaniards in the Roma ranks - Pau Lopez, Carles Perez, and Gonzalo Villar - and while only Lopez has played against Sevilla previously, the Spanish goalkeeper has kept two clean sheets and tasted victory three times in eight games against the Andalusians.

Familiar faces

Two men the Spanish side will also know very well are Federico Fazio and Diego Perotti, the duo having both lifted the Europa League trophy as Sevilla players.

Fazio played in both the 2013-14 and 2015-16 winning campaigns - including the entirety of the 2014 showpiece as they beat Benfica on penalties - while countryman Perotti played seven times for Sevilla in Europe that season and scored three goals.

Another winner

The two Argentines aren’t the only Roma men with Europa League winners’ medals already in their cabinets: Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored in the 2016-17 final to help Manchester United to a 2-0 win over Ajax.

Davide Zappacosta lifted the trophy with Chelsea last season, although he has not been registered for the final phase of this season's competition.