Roma will kick off their preparations for the 2024-25 campaign with a friendly against Slovakian outfit FK Kosice on Monday evening.
The Italian giants are building towards the start of their new Serie A season on August 18, while this will represent Kosice's final friendly ahead of the return of competitive football.
Match preview
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Roma finished the 2023-24 Serie A campaign in sixth position in the table, meaning that they will play in the group stage of the 2024-25 Europa League, but they will be aiming to push towards the top four next term.
Daniele De Rossi's side have four friendlies in the diary against Kosice, Olympiacos, Coventry City and Everton before beginning their 2024-25 campaign against Cagliari on August 18.
La Magica have made three signings this summer, with Enzo Le Fee proving to be the biggest of those, arriving at the club from Rennes.
Angelino has also joined from RB Leipzig following a successful loan spell, while Mathew Ryan has boosted the goalkeeping department at the club after his release from Dutch outfit AZ Alkmaar.
Romelu Lukaku has been the big departure, with his loan move from Chelsea coming to an end, while Houssem Aouar and Andrea Belotti are among those to exit since the end of last season.
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Kosice, meanwhile, ended their 2023-24 campaign in the middle of May, and they started their pre-season a little over one month later, losing 1-0 to Humenne on June 22.
Since then, the Slovakian outfit have played a further four times in friendly matches, winning once, drawing once and suffering two defeats, with their last fixture taking place on July 13.
This will be the team's final friendly before opening their Super Liga campaign against DAC 1904 on July 28, so head coach Gergely Geri will be desperate to avoid any fitness problems.
VSS won the second tier in 2022-23 to secure a spot in the top flight, and they finished in 10th position last term.
There has been a huge turnaround in players at the club this summer, with a number leaving on free transfers and a whole host arriving, so there will be a fresh look to the squad in the coming campaign.
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Karlo Miljanic is one of the players to make the move to Kosice this summer, and the 22-year-old is expected to be among the starters for the Slovakian outfit in this contest.
Head coach Geri will make full use of his squad, with Luis dos Santos, who has also recently arrived, set to receive minutes in a wide position on Monday evening.
Giannis Niarchos has arrived on loan this summer, meanwhile, and the 22-year-old is expected to be given the nod in the final third of the field for the first whistle here.
As for Roma, there is expected to be an official debut for Angelino at left-back, while Le Fee and Ryan should also make their first appearances for the Italian giants.
Head coach De Rossi will hand a number of youngsters opportunities to impress during pre-season, but he will also want to get minutes in the legs of the first-team players.
Zeki Celik is a doubt due to his involvement for Turkey at Euro 2024, but Paulo Dybala should start, while there could also be a role in the final third of the field for Joao Costa.
FK Kosice possible starting lineup:
Sipos; Magda, Jakubko, Zsigmund, Bokros; Takac, Sovic, Verga; Miljanic, Niarchos, Dos Santos
Roma possible starting lineup:
Svilar; Mancini, Ndicka, Kumbulla, Angelino; Le Fee, Bove, Pogano; Dybala, Costa, Baldanzi
We say: FK Kosice 1-2 Roma
Kosice are drawing their pre-season preparations to a close, while Roma are just beginning, so this should be a relatively even contest. That said, even with the amount of changes that will be made, the Italian outfit should have enough to open their pre-season with a victory.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Matt Law
