Italian side Lazio welcome Romanian outfit CFR Cluj to the Stadio Olimpico on Thursday night as the Europa Conference League knockout phase gets underway.
Cluj booked their place in the knockouts by finishing second in Group G, while Lazio dropped out of the Europa League after finishing third in their group.
Match preview
It is fair to say that Lazio can count themselves very unfortunate to have missed out on a place in the Europa League knockout phase, given that all four teams in Group F finished on eight points.
Group winners Feyenoord advanced to the round of 16, while FC Midtjylland progressed to the knockout round playoffs after finishing second, meaning that Lazio were forced to settle for a spot in the Europa Conference League due to their inferior goal difference.
After kicking off their Europa League campaign with a 4-2 victory over Feyenoord, the Eagles suffered a 5-1 thrashing at the hands of Midtjylland before recording back-to-back draws against Sturm Graz.
Maurizio Sarri's side managed to gain their revenge on Midtjylland with a 2-1 win, but a 1-0 loss to Feyenoord saw the Italian club finish third in Group F and drop into the Europa Conference League.
Back home, Lazio have slipped to sixth in the Serie A table following a 2-0 defeat to Atalanta on Saturday, so Sarri and his players will be eager to register a positive result in the first leg, having won just two of their past eight league games.
It is worth noting that CFR Cluj had to come through three qualifying rounds to reach the Europa Conference League group stage, dispatching Inter Club d'Escaldes, Shakhtyor Soligorsk and Maribor on their way to the competition proper.
After taking a single point from their opening two group games, it looked as though Cluj's European journey would end before the turn of the year, but the White and Burgundies turned their campaign around.
Cluj ended up winning three of their final four group games to snatch second place in Group G, securing back-to-back victories over Slavia Prague before defeating KF Ballkani to punch their ticket to the knockouts.
That said, Dan Petrescu's side have struggled for consistency in the Romanian top flight of late, losing three of their previous five league outings without scoring.
Having endured a poor run of form in recent weeks, Petrescu will be hoping that his players can rediscover the performance levels that saw them qualify for the Europa Conference League knockout phase.
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Team News
Lazio will be without the suspended Luka Romero on Thursday, as the teenage winger picked up a red card in the final Europa League game back in November.
The injured duo of Stefan Radu and Alessio Romagnoli will also be absent for the hosts, with the latter sustaining a hamstring injury in last weekend's defeat to Atalanta.
On a brighter note, club captain Ciro Immobile is back in action following a couple of injury setbacks, so the prolific striker will be hopeful of returning to scoring ways this week.
Cluj have reported no fresh injury problems ahead of the first leg, meaning that Petrescu will field a full-strength starting XI on Thursday.
Ciprian Deac has bagged five goals and 11 assists across all competitions this season, so the veteran winger should join Claudiu Petrila and Emmanuel Yeboah in attack.
Lazio possible starting lineup:
Povedel; Marusic, Patric, Casale, Hysaj; Milinkovic-Savic, Cataldi, Alberto; Anderson, Immobile, Zaccagni
CFR Cluj possible starting lineup:
Scuffet; Manea, Matias, Burca, Camora; Boateng, Muhar, Cvek; Petrila, Yeboah, Deac
We say: Lazio 2-0 CFR Cluj
Lazio should not struggle to gain a comfortable first-leg advantage in front of a passionate Stadio Olimpico crowd, while the hosts look set to keep a clean sheet en route to victory.
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