Albion will head to a revitalised AS Roma as they board their Italy-bound flight this afternoon.

The stadium in which they will train this evening has been the scene of some wild celebrations of late.

Such as when Mile Slivar’s save from a subsequently distraught Alireza Jahanbakhsh clinched their place in this last 16 of the Europa League.

Daniele De Rossi led the celebrations in front of the Curva Sud, the mass of flags, flares, humanity and noise where you will find the most openly fervent Giallorossi fans.

It is tempting to think, had De Rossi taken over from Jose Mourinho earlier, this tie would not be taking place.

Roma would have won their group rather than coming second behind Slavia Prague.

They ended that mini-league second with 13 points, the same as Albion had in topping their section.

One Serie A win in Mourinho’s last six games (plus a painful Coppa Italia defeat to Lazio) has been followed by six league wins in seven (the only defeat coming to leaders Inter) under De Rossi.

The club legend of a midfielder has been more that a cheerleader. So what has he changed?

A lot, according to reporter Alessandro Carducci of Voce Giallo Rosso.

He said: “Roma with De Rossi play much more ball on the ground, building from the back and preferring to move up the field with triangles and quick passes, favouring the players' movement without the ball and the rotations necessary to free the man between the lines."

It sounds rather like the way Roberto De Zerbi gets his teams to play.

A bit of research on how Albion are viewed here soon reveals an admiration from afar for the work Pascal Gross does.

Word has spread. How many times must a player be described as “under-rated” until he ceases to be so?

Roma’s highly-rated headline-grabbers are, of course Paulo Dybala and Romelu Lukaku.

Dybala was electric again in the 4-1 win at Monza on Saturday, finding spaces, beating men, creating chances and curling a perfect free-kick over the wall for his side’s third goal.

They were having fun in early evening while Albion were mired in misery in those hours immediately after defeat at Fulham.

But there will be men away from the headline-grabbers who are helping make all this happen.

Goalscoring midfielder Lorenzo Pellegrini is influential and there are others.

Carducci said: (Stephan) El Shaarawy is not among the stars like Dybala, Lukaku or Pellegrini but he is always ready, he is good at hitting the goal and sacrifices a lot in the defensive phase.

“Also worth mentioning are (defender Gianluca) Mancini and especially (Argentina and ex-PSG midfielder Leandro) Paredes, world champion, who with De Rossi is among the players who have grown the most."

Players improving under the coach.

It is still early days for De Rossi, of course, maybe still the new coach effect.

But that improvement of individuals is something for which De Zerbi has been noted and there is no doubt Italian eyes will be on the Albion coach over the next 36 hours or so.

Carducci said: “In Italy we talk and have talked a lot about De Zerbi.

“There is also the regret of not having him in Italy yet.

“His football fascinates many people, who started following Brighton thanks to the Italian manager.

“There is a lot of anticipation for the confrontation between him and De Rossi."

‘Confrontation’ is perhaps too literal a translation of an answer given in Italian.

It might come to that, might not.

It it will be another clash “à l’Italienne” as the front page of L’Equipe built up the contest between Gennaro Gattuso’s Marseille and Albion on the morning of the game at the Velodrome.

Anticipation? That will start for many Albion fans when they clear security checks and step into the departure lounge bound for Rome, Naples, Milan or whichever other route they have come up with.

There were some familiar faces at Gatwick’s south terminal yesterday morning.

Setting foot in the duty free area through which you must walk after security, some equally familiar music was playing.

Pure coincidence, of course, but Fatboy Slim’s Praise You was an appropriate first tune to hear walking through the perfumes, chocolates and spirits thinking only of a coffee.

A long, long way together? No, that would have been Baku to face Qarabag.

But there certainly some English voices, some blue and white colours, on the Leonardo Express train service from Fiumicino to Termini.

Norman has a gig planned for this trip, as he did in Athens.

It might be his first ever half-time show given it comes at the midway point in the tie.

Albion’s first job is to still be firmly in the contest at that point.

Their record over two-legged ties in relatively recent years is poor, for what it’s worth.

But times change. De Zerbi and De Rossi have shown us that.