Dutch ahead after 5′ thanks to a goal from Gimenez, Pellegrini equalizes in the 15th minute. Little happens in the second half, a great opportunity at the end of extra time for Lukaku, finally the thrilling finale
– Rome
Pellegrini, Svilar and Zalewski. Choose which hero to trust, all three are fine. Because the captain put a compromised match back on track, Svilar sterilized Lukaku’s mistake in the penalty shootout and Zalewski erased a colorless effort with the decisive penalty, kicked perfectly. Roma takes out Feyenoord once again and it is the third in a row, the fourth in four matches. And De Rossi can make the most of his first European evening at the Olimpico, which ended exhausted celebrating under the Sud. Gimenez’s initial goal was responded to by Pellegrini’s magic, with the 1-1 tied until the end. When the heroes became the two of them, first Svilar and then Zalewski. We go to the round of 16, with the dream of reaching the end once again. Super
super leather
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De Rossi replaces Mancini with Llorente at the center of defense and goes to play with his starting line-up, Slot instead recovers Timber, Geertruida and Gimenez from the start, hoping for a greater balance. Also because after just 5′ the cold shower immediately arrives for Roma, with Gimenez’s goal from the shoulder, validated by the VAR. It seems like the start of a nightmare and instead De Rossi’s Roma have heart and courage, they get there to grind the game and find the equalizer in the 15th minute, with a magic from outside by Pellegrini. A deserved equalizer, because shortly before it had been Hancko (excellent in closing) who saved Lukaku’s shot off the line, while Svilar had had to say no to Wieffer for the possible 2-0. Which would have been a real joke, because then Feyenoord never built anything again. Pellegrini began to work a series of delicious balls (the ball was splendid for the insertion of Cristante, with the midfielder’s header to the side), Spinazzola sprinted endlessly to the left and Mancini muzzled Gimenez. So Roma ended up dominating the match, making themselves dangerous again with Pellegrini and Karsdorp (some were dangerous following empty exits on the wing). The 1-1 draw in the first half was a close one for the Giallorossi, but considering how they were in shape after just 5 minutes of play, De Rossi was fine with that too.
The long wait
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In the second half Dybala immediately lights up, earning 5-6 fouls one after the other and scoring a golden ball for El Shaarawy. To stop the Argentine you need rough ways, even if Roma build little this time. There is a doubtful contact in the area (Stengs kicks El Shaarawy), Paixao finds the only intuition of his game before leaving the field and De Rossi covers himself halfway through the second half with Celik on the right, also because on that side Slot has In the meantime, Ivanusec was introduced, who had shown very good things in the first leg when he entered. And then an almost chess game emerges, where we start to think more about not taking them than giving them. Wellenreuther removes a ball from Lukaku’s head, Mancini saves on Ueda two steps from the goal, Lukaku again has the ball of success, but he gets stuck in front of the opposing goalkeeper. And then we go to extra time, like a year ago. Little happens: Dybala comes out exhausted, Geertruida can hurt but doesn’t succeed, Wellenreuther makes a last-gasp save on Lukaku. And Svilar takes care of the penalties first (saves on Hancko and Jahanbakhsh) and then Zalewski to send the Olimpico to heaven.
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