Fiorentina draw Roma in Europa League Round of 16

There were plenty of good teams that Fiorentina could have been pulled to play in the Europa League, but naturally la Viola will be facing the former club of Vincenzo Montella, David Pizarro, and Alberto Aquilani. Fiorentina - AS Roma was the final draw made in Switzerland today, after UEFA handed out generally difficult draws to the other Italian clubs as well. Fiorentina will once again face an Italian opponent in the Round of 16, after being eliminated at the same stage last season by Juventus.

The slightly unlucky draw tempers slightly the optimism from yesterday's home triumph against Tottenham Hotspur, especially when seen in the balance of the coming Fiorentina fixtures. Fiorentina did beat Roma for the first time in 6 tries in the Coppa Italia quarterfinal earlier this year, a result that was Montella's first success against his former club, and that came after a 1-1 home draw against the giallorossi where Fiorentina maybe deserved to win. All the same, the two recent positive results do not erase a decade of Viola difficulty against Francesco Totti and company, and this tie will thoroughly test this Fiorentina side.

FIORENTINA - Roma: Europa League Round of 16

First leg (Florence): March 12th

Return leg (Rome): March 19th

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Our next 6 matches:&#10;@ Inter&#10;@ Juve (Coppa)&#10;@ Lazio &#10;Roma (EL)&#10;Milan &#10;@ Roma (EL) &#10;&#10;ALL IN 19 DAYS &#10;<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ForzaViola?src=hash">#ForzaViola</a></p>&mdash; Viola Nation (@Viola_Nation) <a href="https://twitter.com/Viola_Nation/status/571287058372624384">February 27, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>