Europa League R16 official line-ups: Bologna vs. Roma
Roma hope Donyell Malen and Bryan Zaragoza can inspire them to Europa League success in the all-Italian derby with Bologna’s Federico Bernardeschi and Santiago Castro.
It kicks off at the Stadio Dall’Ara at 17.45 GMT (18.45 CET).
The second leg is at the Stadio Olimpico next Thursday, as it means there will be just one Italian entry into the Europa League quarter-finals.
Roma went directly into the Round of 16 as one of the top eight in the league phase, but are decimated in attack by injuries to Paulo Dybala, Matias Soulé, Artem Dovbyk and Evan Ferguson.
Gianluca Mancini also sits out a ban in defence, with Manu Koné and Mario Hermoso carrying knocks.
The French midfielder had originally been named on the bench, but was then sent to the stands at the last minute.
January signings Malen and Zaragoza finally get to play in the Europa League, as they were cup-tied for the last couple of league phase matches, with Bryan Cristante and Niccolò Pisilli providing support from midfield.
There is temptation to focus on the upcoming showdown with Como for fourth place in Serie A, coming off a 3-3 draw with Juventus and 2-1 defeat at Genoa.
Bologna have almost a complete squad to deal with after eliminating SK Brann in the play-offs, though Juan Miranda, Torbjorn Heggem and Charalampos Lykogiannis are not at 100 per cent.
Castro keeps hold of the centre-forward role, flanked by Jonathan Rowe and Federico Bernardeschi.
Tommaso Pobega also gets the nod in midfield.
The Rossoblu have had a very odd 2026, as after a crisis run of poor results, they put together five consecutive victories in all competition.
That was halted at the weekend with a shock 2-1 home defeat to rock bottom Hellas Verona in Serie A.
Bologna vs. Roma official line-ups
Bologna: Skorupski; Joao Mario, Casale, Lucumi, Miranda; Freuler, Ferguson, Pobega; Bernardeschi, Castro, Rowe
Bologna bench: Ravaglia, Moro, Orsolini, Heggem, Zortea, Odgaard, Lykogiannis, Sohm, Dallinga, Cambiaghi, Dominguez, Vitik
Roma: Svilar; Celik, Ndicka, Ghilardi; Rensch, El Aynaoui, Pisilli, Wesley; Cristante; Zaragoza, Malen
Roma bench: De Marzi, Gollini, Pellegrini, Tsimikas, Hermoso, Ziolkowski, Vaz, El Shaarawy
Ref: Jablonski (GER)
Player statistic
| Juan Miranda | 13' | |||
| 15' | Wesley |
| João Mário | 47' | |||
| Federico Bernardeschi (Assist: Jonathan Rowe) |
50' | |||
| Nicolò Casale | 57' | |||
| 67' | Bryan Cristante | |||
| 71' | Lorenzo Pellegrini |