Football
Ben Gladwell, Italy correspondent 9y

Italian PM Matteo Renzi rues Fiorentina vs. Roma in Europa League

Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi reacted with surprise after seeing his favourite club Fiorentina drawn against Roma in the Europa League last-16, tweeting: "Roma of all clubs!"

A year after being eliminated from the competition by Serie A rivals Juventus, Fiorentina will once again face domestic rivals for a place in the quarterfinals, although Italy's four other representatives in the draw managed to avoid each other.

Fiorentina and Roma were the two clubs who had voiced the most concern about facing Italian opposition after booking their places in the last-16 on Thursday night. Their worst fears were confirmed when all the other 14 clubs had been pulled out of the bowl in Nyon, leaving only the order of fixtures to be determined.

Fiorentina enjoy home advantage for the first leg, with the decider taking place at the Stadio Olimpico on March 19.

"It's going to be a competitive tie," Roma's CEO Italo Zanzi said on his club's website. "We know Fiorentina well. They're strong and it's going to be a beautiful spectacle of Italian football. We want to win every game, and that includes as many games as possible in the Europa League."

The main advantage Viola coach Vincenzo Montella could see from the draw was that his team can make the trip by train.

"Certainly it's positive from a logistics point of view," he said on his club's website. "I'm sorry that we're facing an Italian side, but statistically we knew it could have happened. Roma are a strong side and we know them very well. We've just not been very lucky [with the draw]."

The same could be said for Inter Milan, who face Bundesliga high-flyers Wolfsburg.

"Wolfsburg are certainly one of the strongest sides in the competition," their general manager, Marco Fassone, said on inter.it. "But we have a great deal of respect for this competition. The Europa League is growing and there are 16 big clubs left in it. It's great to see five Italian clubs left in it, with a prestigious derby between Fiorentina and Roma."

Torino, who eliminated Athletic Bilbao, face Zenit St Petersburg with the return leg in Turin, while Napoli also have Russian opponents in the form of Dynamo Moscow.

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