Leandro Paredes tasked with stopping Bayer’s Granit Xhaka | OneFootball

Leandro Paredes will return to Roma’s line-up for the match against Bayer Leverkusen after sitting out the last two Serie A games.

The Argentine midfielder was recently given the opportunity to rest ahead of a crucial first leg with Xabi Alonso’s team in the Europa League semifinals.

Without Paredes in the midfield, Roma visibly struggled to contain the likes of Napoli.

De Rossi sees in Paredes a key presence and a pivotal enforcer for the functioning of the Giallorossi’s entire midfield.

According to Il Messaggero, Paredes will be back at the center of De Rossi’s formation on Thursday night and will have a very precise task to fulfill: to guard and contain his counterpart at Bayer, namely Granit Xhaka.

Xhaka, like Paredes for Roma, is the engine of Bayer’s play. In Alonso’s gameplan, Xhaka’s importance cannot be understated and De Rossi knows this.

The Italian technician is said to have asked Paredes to specifically target and limit the Austrian international’s movements.