El-oh-El: Do you fancy Fiorentina?

Rotterdam obviously is a place where our Vasileios thrives. His two beautiful assists (Adem and Yao say thank you) paved the way for a Europa League away win (seriously, how long has THAT been) and gave the Giallorossi a ticket for the Round of 16. The road to Warsaw is still long but I'm happy: more midweek games, more Roma, more drama, more weight loss. My body is ready.

Enough has been said and writted about the heated game of yesterday. Yes, at one time there was an inflatable banana on the pitch and Gervinho scored an easy goal for once (never underestimate the vitamins of a big banana). After two games, Roma won 3-2 on aggregate and thus continue to the next round. Where Roma can face a lot of interesting opponents: apart from Roma, there are four other Italian teams in the running but you don't play a European tourney just to encounter an Italian team, right?

So, Everton, Zenit, Bruges (yaay, brave little Belgium), Wolfsburg, Dniprotprosomething, Sevilla,... Who's it gonna be? I hope for a team with more respectul tifosi than Feyenoord this time around, I fear the fountains in Rome can't handle another beating like last week... Maybe the Ajax fans can redeem the Dutch image in Europe? Or do you prefer a shorter trip, against a fellow country club like Torino?

*former keeper Jerzy Dudek playing with and grabbing a lot of balls* (for people who watched the UEFA draw live and no, it wasn't as dirty as I just described)

Drum rolls.... The fortunate is FIORENTINA! Boy, we do love teams starting with an F, right?

So, thoughts my dear readership? Do you dig Roma's chances? Love it or hate it? Which teams would you rather have preferred? We avoided some good teams like Everton, Wolfsburg, Sevilla and Zenit. And we don't have to visit cold, harsh countries like Russia or Ukraine.

To be honest, I like this draw. Fiorentina-Roma are always fun and thrilling games. There's the Purple Prince factor (Vincenzo Montella) as well. A short easy trip, plus we first play at the Franchi. A good result there and the quarters are within reach. What if we just ignore the S-word for now and make room for.... the EL-word? Yeah, I just did it. Why not? Roma's DNA screams 'hit or miss', they can easily win and easily lose to every remaining team. The question is: will they show up when D-day arrives? To make things more heated: Roma can avenge their Coppa elimination while they're at it. Perfect.

But first (let me take a selfie), the Bianconeri on Monday! Another D-day. As if the Feyenoord war wasn't enough, there's this certain game still haunting our dreams since October 5. Interesting times ahead of us, boys. Fiorentina and Juventus. A double vendetta coming up.