Romelu Lukaku’s second-half equaliser ensured that AS Roma escaped Rotterdam with a hard-earned 1-1 draw forward of subsequent week’s second leg in opposition to Feyenoord in Rome.
Final yr’s overwhelmed finalists are among the many favourites for the competitors this time round, however Daniele de Rossi’s facet got a stern take a look at amidst a fervent De Kuip environment on this Europa League knockout play-off tie.
Feyenoord threw all the things on the Italian guests in a breathless first-half that noticed possibilities come at each ends, with the hosts taking the lead on the cusp of half-time due to a wonderful header from Igor Paixao.
The Dutch hosts deserved their lead on the stability of play, however Roma tightened up after the break and grabbed the equaliser off the shoulder of Lukaku to disclaim Feyenoord the home-leg benefit that they strained so laborious to amass.
The hosts loved a sustained spell of strain late on and hit the put up within the remaining moments of the sport, however will head to Italy understanding that they want a well-known end result in an effort to make it into the round-of-16.
Speaking Level – Benefit Roma
There aren’t many more durable away assessments than Feyenoord at De Kuip and the hosts threatened to blow Roma away at occasions in an exhilarating end-to-end fixture.
The duty for the guests was to get out of Rotterdam with the tie nonetheless alive, they usually actually did that due to Lukaku’s equalising objective, which makes them favourites forward of the return match in Italy subsequent week.
Whoever makes it out of this tie will fancy their possibilities of going a good distance on this competitors – on tonight’s proof these are two extraordinarily helpful sides.
Participant Of The Match – Igor Paixao (Feyenoord)
The house facet had been relentless with their vitality and few gamers displayed that as a lot because the goalscorer Igor Paixao.
He was a continuing thorn within the facet of the Roma defence and he took his probability superbly to provide Feyenoord the lead.
Participant Rankings
Feyenoord: Wellenreuther 8; Nieuwkoop 7, Beelen 7, Hancko 7, Hartman 7; Wieffer 8, Zerrouki 7, Stengs 8; Minteh 8, Ueda 6, Paixao 8. Subs: Gimenez 8, Lingr 7, Ivanusec 8, Learn 7, Milambo 7.
Roma: Svilar 7; Karsdorp 6, Mancini 6, Llorente 5, Spinazzola 6; Bove 5, Paredes 7, Pellegrini 6; Dybala 7, Lukaku 7, Zalewski 5. Subs: El Shaarawy 5, Celik 5, Baldanzi 6, Cristante 6.
Match Highlights
Paredes lets fly with a terrific shot from vary that’s tipped on to the bar by Wellenreuther. That’s very good from the keeper and he’s saved his facet stage in high-class vogue.
The house facet have the lead and the roof virtually comes off the stadium. A gorgeous cross picks out Paixao in house, and he takes a couple of steps again earlier than sending a wonderful looping header into the nook of the web. 1-0 Feyenoord!
Romelu Lukaku strikes to suck the environment out of De Kuip. He made a intelligent run throughout his marker and flicks the ball past the goalkeeper to stage it up on the evening. That truly got here off his shoulder, however all of them rely and it’s an vital objective for Roma.
Feyenoord throw our bodies into the field for a free-kick from a large angle, and Svilar is so involved about popping out for the cross that he’s very practically caught out by a superb opportunistic effort from Ivanusec, who goes for objective and cracks the close to put up with the keeper nicely overwhelmed.
Key Stats
AS Roma have reached at the very least a European semi-final in every of the final three seasons.
Romelu Lukaku’s newest Europa League objective places him third within the match’s record of all-time scorers.
