’Gladbach hoping to find Europa form
BORUSSIA Moenchengladbach are flying high domestically but the Bundesliga leaders have struggled in the Europa League so far and must defeat Roma today to salvage their campaign.
While Gladbach are on the brink of falling out of the tournament, others are on the verge of progressing to the last 32 including record champions Sevilla.
Gladbach who are bottom of Group J with just two points from three games.
“We can sit and moan, we can say we’re tired, or we can say that what we do works and that we bounce back well,” Gladbach coach Marco Rose said about the challenge of playing regularly in midweek and on the weekend.
“We had an extremely stressful period, but we did well and put in good performances that delivered good results,” he said after last weekend’s victory at Bayer Leverkusen.
“Now we have a five-day break ... then we look forward to two more games before the international break: a very important Europa League game and a home game against
Werder Bremen.”
Roma’s city rivals Lazio will count on the good form of captain Ciro Immobile as they welcome Celtic, who can qualify with victory if Group E tailenders Rennes do not beat second-place Cluj.
Sevilla, who have five Uefa Cup/ Europa League titles could still be without Sergio Escudero, Sergi Gomez and Daniel Carrico, while Ever Banega and Lucas Ocampos could be rested away to Dudelange. Anotehr win will see them through regardless of the APOEL v Qarabag outcome.
In contrast to their Premier League difficulties, Manchester United aim for a fourth consecutive clean sheet in the tournament when they host Partizan Belgrade.
United top Group L by two points over AZ Alkmaar and a second straight win over Partizan, who sit third in the group, will put them in pole position to qualify for the next round. Alkmaar visit Astana.
Wolves seek their third straight win when they host Slovan Bratislava.
“Last season we all wanted to be in the Europa League and now that we are there we have to keep going and fight until the end,” striker Raul Jimenez, who’s scored seven Europa League goals, said.