Roma v Bayer Leverkusen: Europa League semi-final, first leg – live

6 min: This is a real cauldron: the smoke, the noise and the flags. Tremendous atmosphere. But the actual football is fairly pedestrian thus far.

4 min: Karsdorp tries and fails to keep a pass in play down the Roma right. Smoke hangs heavy in the air from the pre-match flares and fireworks. Xhaka has a crack from distance for the German champions. A goal kick for the hosts is the result, and they opt to try and play it out from the back, but Spinazzola gives it away. Thankfully for him no harm done.

2 min: Cagey start from both sides, neither committing bodies to attack. A long ball is launched out of Leverkusen’s defence but it’s straight through to Svilar.

Let’s go.

“At Roma, they know Leverkusen are the favourites,” Rudi Völler told Sport Bild. He played for both these clubs. “If Leverkusen play as well as they have all season, they will reach the final. But they have to be careful. A few weeks ago, Liverpool were the favourites and now they are no longer in the competition.”

The teams are out. De Rossi and Alonso share a warm embrace.

AVANZIAMO, – let’s move forward – reads a massive banner across the packed Roma crowd, or rather the appearance of a banner achieved with a bit of trickery.

Here is someone roofing a tasty finish during the Leverkusen warmup.

OK, it’s more beard than moustache, but there is definitely a resemblance.

Anyway – kick-off is a mere five minutes away!

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Matt Smith and James Horncastle are pitchside in Rome. It is LOUD.

“Mourinho had a lot to do with creating this atmosphere,” Horncastle tells Smith, struggling to make himself heard over the noise. “Bringing the crowds back to the Olimpico.”

“De Rossi has taken them on. More expansive, more attacking.”

The Roma manager has lost just three times since taking over in January and he likes to attack. I hereby appoint the moustachioed Daniele De Rossi as the Lord Flashheart of European football management.

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“As soon as the referee blows for kick-off, everyone starts to move,” De Rossi said of his potential formation this evening. I mean, that’s undeniable, but his point is that formations are more fluid in the modern game than perhaps they once were.

I’m looking forward to this one. Are you? Send me an email.

“Is this Leverkusen story giving you Leicester vibes?” asks Lynsey Hipgrave on TNT Sports.

“Well, no,” replies Owen Hargreaves. He espouses the idea that Leverkusen are a possession team while Leicester were a counterattacking team.

Leverkusen are on for a potential treble. They have the German Cup final coming up, against Kaiserslautern on 25 May, and of course have already sealed the league title.

De Rossi is quoted at length on the Roma website looking ahead to the match. Here’s some of what he said about tonight’s opponents:

“We should fear everything about them, starting with the way they play. They play superb football and have had so many good results. They have some excellent players. I rate their coach very highly for what he’s achieved since taking the reins. They’ve spent more time working with their coach.

“There’s a lot for us to worry about and one thing we must be very respectful of is the fact they’re still unbeaten despite often having fallen behind in games. They’ve also often gone on to win matches after conceding an equaliser. Besides being a great team, they have this incredible belief and tenacity to keep chasing the game even when it might seem lost.”

Lukaku.

Alonso.

It really is that simple.

I witnessed Leverkusen’s second-leg draw at West Ham a couple of weeks ago, that took them through to the last four 3-1 on aggregate.

My expert opinion is that they are a good side.

Roma may be owned by the Friedkin family, but it is Leverkusen who will be looking to exorcise the demons of last season’s defeat at the same stage of this competition.

Edoardo Bove scored Roma’s goal in the first leg before Roma held the German side to a 0-0 draw in the second leg. Classic Mou.

De Rossi makes six changes to the team that drew 2-2 at Napoli at the weekend. Karsdorp, Smalling, Ndicka, Paredes, Lukaku and El Shaarawy all come in to the starting lineup. The injury-troubled Smalling returns from his latest enforced absence, while there was also some doubt Lukaku as he’d also been sidelined by a knock. But here he is.

And I make it five changes for Alonso and Leverkusen: Kovar, Stanisic, Xhaka, Hincapie and Wirtz are added – the German side also drew 2-2 in the league at the weekend, against Stuttgart.

Roma (4-3-3): Svilar; Karsdorp, Mancini, Smalling, Spinazzola; Cristante, Paredes, Pellegrini; Dybala, Lukaku, El Shaarawy. Substitutes: Rui Patricio, N’Dicka, Abraham, Llorente, Azmoun, Sanches, Aouar, Baldanzi, Bove, Zalewski, Boer, Angelino.

Bayer Leverkusen (3-4-2-1): Kovar, Stanisic, Tah, Tapsoba; Frimpong, Andrich, Xhaka, Hincapie; Wirtz, Grimaldo; Adli. Substitutes: Hradecky, Kossounou, Hofmann, Iglesias, Arthur, Schick, Tella, Boniface, Hlozek, Palacios, Puerta, Lomb.

Referee: Francois Letexier (France)

In an alternative reality this is an all-Premier League matchup between Brighton and West Ham, and the more parochial fans among you may have wished it to be so, if only for the old Uefa coefficient. But it is difficult to imagine a more enticing Europa League encounter than the one we’ve got tonight.

Under the tutelage of Xabi Alonso the recently-crowned Bundesliga champions, Bayer Leverkusen, are playing some absolutely lovely stuff. They are on a 46-match unbeaten run that narrowly survived a second-leg examination by the Hammers in London in the quarter-final two weeks ago.

Meanwhile post-José Mourinho Roma have been reinvigorated by the thrusting figure of Daniele de Rossi, who took over in January. Born in the Italian capital, he spent 18 years playing for the Giallorossi, making 459 appearances. The 2006 World Cup winner has overseen an uptick in results that has put them in contention for next season’s Champions League. “We should fear everything about them,” De Rossi says of Alonso’s outfit, but behind closed doors, he will be assuring his players they can end Leverkusen’s remarkable undefeated run.

Kick-off: 8pm BST