Stat Attack: Facts to know ahead of trip to Young Boys

Roma travel to Switzerland on Thursday as the club’s 2020-21 Europa League campaign gets underway.

Here are 10 pre-match facts worth knowing ahead of the Group A encounter, which kicks-off at 18:55 CEST…

A competitive first

This will be the first competitive meeting between Roma and Young Boys, but the two teams have met before in more friendly fashion; the Giallorossi beating the Swiss side 3-0 in a 1934 exhibition.

They also played against each other in the 1960 Alps Cup - winning 1-0 (Arne Selmosson with the goal) at home and drawing 2-2 away.

Happy hunting

Roma have previously faced Swiss sides competitively, however, and have notched up six wins in 11 matches (W6, D2, L3) against teams from Switzerland in UEFA club competitions, scoring 23 goals at an average of 2.1 per game in the process.

Most recent trip

The last time Roma took on one of Young Boys’ domestic rivals was back in the group stage of the 2010-11 Champions League - putting away Basel with a 3-2 away win thanks to goals from Jeremy Menez, Francesco Totti and Leandro Greco.

Top talisman

It may not surprise you to know that it is Totti, Roma’s all-time top appearance maker and goalscorer, who has featured the most times (nine games) and scored the most goals (five) in red and yellow against Swiss opponents.

Good on the road

Paulo Fonseca’s men are unbeaten in their last two away days in Europe (W1, D1), and if they stretch that run to three on Thursday it will be the first time they have done so since February 2017, when Roma went five without a loss on their European travels.

On form

Excluding the 0-0 draw (subsequently awarded as a 3-0 defeat) with Hellas Verona on Serie A’s opening weekend, the Giallorossi are unbeaten in 11 Italian top-flight matches (W9, D2) and have lost just once in their last 12 in all competitions - the 2-0 last-16 loss to last season’s Europa League winners, Sevilla.

A sole shared player

Just one man has played for both teams; Seydou Doumbia hit 58 goals in just 79 appearances for Young Boys across a two-year spell in 2008-10, before his single season spell at Roma in 2014-15 where he scored twice in 14 games.

Man on fire

Club captain Edin Dzeko has scored 11 goals in 16 Europa League matches in a Roma shirt, hitting eight of them in his 10 group stage games.

Unlikely pace-setter

Dzeko’s double in the 5-2 win over Benevento on Sunday were welcome first goals of the season for the Bosnian and it is midfielder Jordan Veretout (three) who currently leads the club’s goalscoring charts in 2020-21.

Group hurdlers

Roma have made it out of the group stages in all five of their previous European campaigns - three in the Champions League, two in the Europa League - and have reached at least the last-16 on each occasion, with their 2017-18 Champions League semi-final tilt the club’s deepest European run during that time.