This entertaining tussle is perhaps the tie of the round in the Europa League quarter-finals with current Eredivisie leaders Ajax taking on Serie A giants Roma. The first leg will occur in Amsterdam with Ajax welcoming Roma off the back of a seventh consecutive win in all competitions on Sunday. Ajax defeated Heerenveen 2-1 to maintain their 11-point lead at the top of their domestic table and extended their unbeaten run to 24 games in the process. Ajax have won all four legs of their two ties so far in this season’s competition defeating Ligue 1 table-toppers Lille 4-2 on aggregate before brushing aside Swiss club Young Boys 5-0. A 3-0 win in their home leg of that last-16 tie and a 2-1 victory over Lille are part of an eight-game winning run at home for the hosts and Roma have their work cut out here if they are going to take anything from this first leg.
Roma have also won all four legs of their knockout ties coming into this fixture after a 2-1 win in Donetsk secured a 5-1 aggregate win over Shakhtar in their last-16 encounter. They also won their round of 32 tie by a similar score-line over Braga and scored twice in a 2-0 victory during their away leg in that tie. However, since their last continental game, Roma have lost at home to Napoli (2-0) and were held on the road at Sassuolo as they drew 2-2 to leave the visitors seventh in Serie A.