UEL | Roma 2-1 Milan: Gladiatorial Giallorossi

Football Italia

·18 April 2024

UEL | Roma 2-1 Milan: Gladiatorial Giallorossi

Roma are in the Europa League semi-final after beating Milan 2-1 with Gianluca Mancini and Paulo Dybala goals, despite being down to 10 men for an hour, 3-1 on aggregate.

The Giallorossi won the first leg 1-0 at San Siro with a Gianluca Mancini header, but missed suspended Bryan Cristante, ineligible Dean Huijsen and injured Evan Ndicka, who suffered a collapsed lung in Sunday’s suspended Serie A match. Fikayo Tomori returned from his ban, though Simon Kjaer, Pierre Kalulu and Tommaso Pobega were sidelined. Yunus Musah was surprisingly chosen instead of Tijjani Reijnders.

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Roma doubled their lead on aggregate in the opening minutes, as Lorenzo Pellegrini saw his trademark curler bounce off the far post and Mancini was quickest to react on the rebound. He celebrated with the shirt he wore during the warm-up, a dedication to Mattia Giani, who died on the pitch during a semi-pro game on Sunday and was a relative.

Roma strike first 💥 Gianluca Mancini finds the rebound to extend Roma's aggregate lead to 2-0.#UEL pic.twitter.com/6ru8WLA5ee — Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 18, 2024

Milan were unlucky not to equalise on the night when Ruben Loftus-Cheek hit a shot into the ground that bounced up and onto the crossbar.

Moments later, Roma scored instead, as Romelu Lukaku battled to keep the ball, shake off defenders and his cross was cleared by Matteo Gabbia, but only as far as Dybala to curl left-footed into the far bottom corner.

A roaring start for Roma 🔥 Lukaku drives into the box to set Dybala up perfectly to strike Roma's second of the evening 👌#UEL pic.twitter.com/STQKjWLYSU — Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 18, 2024

However, Lukaku was forced to limp off with a knee injury after 29 minutes, but the game turned again moments later when the referee opted for a rather harsh straight red card as Zeki Celik dived into the sliding tackle on Rafael Leao, reducing Roma to 10 men.

ROMA DOWN TO 10! 😱 — Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 18, 2024

Milan had to pour forward and Loftus-Cheek’s diving header was charged down by Mancini’s back in the six-yard box. There were also penalty appeals for a Chris Smalling handling offence on a corner, but VAR showed Olivier Giroud handled first.

Christian Pulisic fired over and Musah’s attempt was charged down, but Stefano Pioli made radical changes at half-time. Samuel Chukwueze rolled across for Luka Jovic, the deflected finish favouring Svilar, while Pulisic barged Svilar and ball into the box with a foul.

Mike Maignan was tested when Leonardo Spinazzola sprung the offside trap, while Tammy Abraham fired over after an initial effort was charged down.

Abraham was struggling in the closing stages with a shoulder injury, while Lorenzo Pellegrini made a decisive sliding block to stop Chukwueze tapping in the Leao pull-back.

Svilar fingertipped a Reijnders scorcher over the bar from the edge of the area and on the resulting corner, Matteo Gabbia nodded in for Milan’s first goal of the tie.

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 18, 2024

There was more controversy, as Marciniak first showed the red card to Theo Hernandez for clipping El Shaarawy’s heels, then changed it to a yellow following a brief VAR review.