Lazio will travel away to Ukraine on Thursday night to face Dnipro at the Dnipro Arena in the first game of their Europa League campaign.
This game will be played behind closed doors because the Dnipro fans invaded the pitch in their semi-final against Napoli last season and UEFA gave the Ukrainian club that punishment as well as a €70,000 fine.
Myron Markevych’s side will be without two stars from their fairytale run to the final last season. Striker Nikola Kalinic has moved to Fiorentina and winger Yevhen Konoplyanka has moved to Spanish side Sevilla, the team that defeated Dnipro 3-2 in the Europa League Final.
Dnipro won their latest league fixture 4-1 away to Metalurg Zaporizhya and they now sit in third place on the Ukrainian Premier Liga table with 14 points after seven games. They are five points behind leaders Dynamo Kyiv and two points away from second-placed Shakhtar Donetsk.
Lazio have collected six points in three matches so far n Serie A and they recorded a 2-0 win against Udinese at the weekend thanks to a double from new signing Alessandro Matri.
The Ukrainian squad have regularly played against Italian sides in recent editions of the Europa League. They have won just two out of 10 matches against Serie A teams but they did win their last, 1-0 against Napoli in the semi-finals last season.
The Biancocelesti have seven out of eight matches against Ukrainian sides. Their last fixture against a side from Ukraine was a 3-0 home win against Metalurh Donetsk in Round One of the UEFA Cup in September 2004 and they triumphed 6-0 on aggregate.
Dnipro are expected to be at near full strength, with striker Roman Zozulya being the only main absence from the squad with a long-term knee injury.
Lazio will not have Stefan De Vrij available because of a knee injury. Lucas Biglia is out with a calf injury, Filip Djordjevic is still out with his ankle injury and Miroslav Klose has a hamstring injury ruling him out of the match.
Form Guide: Dnipro (D-L-W-W-W) Lazio (W-W-L-L-W)
Expected Starting XIs
Dnipro: Boyko; Tomecak, Gueye, Douglas, Anderson Pico; Golovsky, Fedorchuk; Leo Matos, Rotan, Matheus; Seleznev
Lazio: Marchetti; Basta, Mauricio, Hoedt, Radu; Cataldi, Parolo; Candreva, Mauri, Lulic; Matri
