Lazio are missing two key men for the visit of Sevilla in the first leg of their Europa League last 32 tie on Thursday night at the Stadio Olimpico.
Midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic has been ruled out with injury, while Aquile top scorer Ciro Immobile is also sidelined and won’t get the chance to face his former club.
However, Joaquin Correa and Luis Alberto will both be facing their former team, while Sevilla’s squad features ex-Serie A players Andre Silva, Ever Banega, Franco Vazquez and Simon Kjaer.
This will be the first official meeting between the two clubs, but Lazio have a poor record against Spanish opposition, having won just one of their last nine meetings with La Liga sides in all competitions.
Worryingly for the hosts, Sevilla currently have the best attack in this season’s Europa League with 18 goals in six matches, while Simone Inzaghi’s side have the worst defensive record of the 32 remaining teams, having shipped 11 goals during the group stage.
The Spaniards have an outstanding record in this competition, having won it a record five times and triumphed in each of the last three years they took part: 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16. The last team to knock Sevilla out of the Europa League was Porto in 2010/11.
Lazio: Strakosha; Bastos, Acerbi, Radu; Marusic, Parolo, Leiva, Luis Alberto, Lulic; Correa, Caicedo
Sevilla: Vaclik; Mercado, Kjaer, Sergi Gomez; Jesus Navas, Sarabia, Banega, Vazquez, Escudero; Andre Silva, Ben Yedder
