Comments, predictions AS Roma vs Athletic Bilbao: Breathtaking tug of war
The match between AS Roma vs Athletic Bilbao in Europa League takes place at 3:00 a.m. on March 7. Nghe An Newspaper analyzes performance, football commentary and predicts the score.
Latest AS Roma vs Athletic Bilbao squad information
After recovering from injury and scoring immediately after coming off the bench, Artem Dovbyk is likely to be given a starting position, replacing Eldor Shomurodov in Roma's attack.
It remains to be seen whether he will be partnered with Paulo Dybala. If manager Claudio Ranieri decides to rest Dybala, youngsters Matias Soule, Nicolo Pisilli and Tommaso Baldanzi will compete for a place behind the striker.
Baldanzi is among five players at risk of suspension for the return leg, including Dybala. Meanwhile, Leandro Paredes has been booked and will not be available for the game, meaning Bryan Cristante is likely to be picked up in midfield.
For Athletic Bilbao, Oihan Sancet has passed his fitness test and will be included in the squad for the trip to Italy, but Alvaro Djalo is still out with an ankle injury.
Once again, Inaki Williams will partner his younger brother Nico Williams in attack for the visitors, while Gorka Guruzeta and Maroan Sannadi are competing for a starting spot to complete the attacking trio.
Nico Williams has been in impressive form in the Europa League this season. Among players who have played at least 500 minutes, he has the most dribbles per 90 minutes (9.6) – the highest figure recorded in a European campaign since 2019-20.
Latest predicted lineup AS Roma vs Athletic Bilbao
Roma:
Svilar; Celik, Mancini, Ndicka; Saelemaekers, Kone, Cristante, Angelino; Dybala, Pellegrini; Dovbyk
Athletic Bilbao:
Simon; De Marcos, Vivian, Paredes, Yuri; Jauregizar, Vesga; I. Williams, Gomez, N. Williams; Sannadi
Latest football prediction AS Roma vs Athletic Bilbao
Roma entered their Europa League campaign with a number of managerial changes and a shaky start, having been held to a draw by Athletic Bilbao in their opening group game at the Stadio Olimpico in late September.
Artem Dovbyk gave the Italian side the lead just before the break, but Athletic equalised in the closing minutes, signaling a challenging group stage journey.
However, after club legend Claudio Ranieri returned to stabilize the situation, Roma had a convincing performance in the final match, defeating Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 to avoid the risk of early elimination and book a ticket to the play-off round.
After a draw in the first leg away, Roma continued to show their mettle by defeating Porto 3-2 in a dramatic second leg, where Paulo Dybala shone with a classy double.
Luckily avoiding a clash with city rivals Lazio in the round of 16, Roma now have a chance to progress to the quarter-finals, where they could face either Rangers or Fenerbahce, who are managed by their former coach, Jose Mourinho.
Roma remain unbeaten in Serie A in 2025. The maroon side continued their fine form with a 2-1 win over Como on Sunday, with Dovbyk scoring the winner. Their unbeaten run in the league has now extended to 11 games.
Since the start of January, Roma have won seven and drawn two, putting them back in the race for European qualification, although they are still four points behind sixth-placed Bologna.
With many important goals ahead, Roma will make every effort before coach Ranieri leaves the team at the end of the season.
On the other side of the front line, Athletic Bilbao are also in impressive form, despite having just lost 0-1 to Atletico Madrid, the team competing for the La Liga championship. Before that, they had convincing victories over Girona (3-0) and Real Valladolid (7-0).
The Basque side are currently fourth in La Liga, four points ahead of Villarreal, and are on course to qualify for next season's Champions League. They could also qualify for Europe's premier competition by winning the Europa League.
Athletic are determined to make it this year, with the Europa League final to be played at home at San Mames. They took a big step forward by finishing second in their group, just behind Lazio on goal difference and one point ahead of Manchester United.
Athletic's star man Nico Williams almost scored against Atletico, hitting the woodwork twice. He also played a part in the win over Viktoria Plzen in the final group stage match.
Despite winning six of their last seven Europa League games, Athletic have a poor record in the knockout stages, having lost four of their last five knockout games and will be keen to avoid a repeat of that when they travel to Rome, looking to take advantage of the second leg at home next week.
Latest score prediction for AS Roma vs Athletic Bilbao
Based on the above football comments, we and the world's leading football sites have given the results of the match.AS Roma vs Athletic Bilbaoas follows:
- Sportsmole:AS Roma 2-2 Athletic Bilbao
- WhoScore:AS Roma 2-1 Athletic Bilbao
- Our newspaper predicts:AS Roma 1-1 Athletic Bilbao
When and where to watch AS Roma vs Athletic Bilbao live?
To watch live the match AS Roma vs Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League taking place at 3:00 a.m. on March 7, viewers can watch onK+ Sport,K+PMor online sports channels. Wish you have fun watching football.
