A relatively invisible Romelu Lukaku and AS Roma have suffered expensive loss of points in the battle for a Champions League ticket. The score remained 0-0 when they visited mid-table Lecce and Roma were especially happy with that. Lukaku was hardly put into action.
Competitor Bologna won 3-0 against Salernitana earlier in the day, so the gap with a Champions League place was six points before the start of the match in Lecce. So there was some pressure on the Romans, who have been doing well since De Rossi’s appointment. 22 out of 27, those are figures you can come home with. Didn’t that international break come at the wrong time?
Yes, as it turned out. Because what Roma showed before the break was not worthy of Champions League football. Lecce was sharper. And also more dangerous – Svilar had to intervene twice. On the other side, Lukaku had a difficult evening. ‘Big Rom’ was hardly reached and certainly not in the zone of truth. The Red Devil was invisible.
Even after the break, the Romans found it extremely difficult to get their sniper into position. Twenty minutes before the end there was a rare heading opportunity, but Lukaku could not hit the ball. A few minutes earlier, Dorgu left the score 1-0 quite incomprehensibly. Aouar missed again for Roma.
Svilar showed an excellent reflex, which resulted in a spectacle score. Not an ideal scenario for AS Roma, a week before the city derby against Lazio and the double confrontation with AC Milan in the Europa League in prospect.
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90’+6′
End of second half
85′
Rescue Svilar
Substitute Banda gets some space to take action and fires a shot. Svilar taps the ball into a corner kick.
84′
Yellow card for Bryan Cristante
84′
Rick Karsdorp is replaced by Zeki Çelik
84′
Tommaso Baldanzi is replaced by Paulo Dybala
82′
Antonino Gallo is replaced by Lorenzo Venuti
81′
Yellow card for Ylber Ramadani
19:39
78′
Marker Lukaku
Lukaku is now being found a little more. The Red Devil discards, El Shaarawy decides too weak.
72′
Chance Roma
Finally another big opportunity for Roma. Substitute Aouar appears alone in front of the goalkeeper, but it is Falcone who comes out on top.
72′
Patrick Dorgu is replaced by Rémi Oudin
69′
Lukaku can’t quite head the ball
Then (almost) Lukaku. He tries to head the ball towards the goal on a cross, but the Red Devil does not hit the target cleanly. The ball goes wide.
68′
What a miss
Roma escapes the deficit! Dorgu can take a free-standing shot from a few meters, but the winger incomprehensibly kicks wide.
64′
Nicola Zalewski is replaced by Stephan El Shaarawy
64′
Edoardo Bove is replaced by Houssem Aouar
19:23
62′
Pontus Almqvist is replaced by Lameck Banda
61′
Roberto Piccoli is replaced by Nicola Sansone
56′
No penalty
A hot stand in the penalty area of Lecce. Zalewski goes to the ground, the ref decides no penalty. The VAR follows him.
46′
Evan N’Dicka is replaced by Dean Huijsen
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Tags: Poor Lukaku Roma suffer expensive loss points Svilar save Romans defeat Lecce Series
