Roma-Ajax 1-1: Dzeko scores, and Europa League semi-final!

The Giallorossi draw 1-1 against the Dutch: now the double challenge against Manchester United

Suffering and also a lot. But with a giant heart until the end, until the last breath. With the desire, with the teeth and with Mancini’s final tears to represent joy and suffering, all together in a mix of unique emotions. Roma drew with Ajax (1-1) and hit the semifinal of the Europa League, exactly the eighth in its European history. To give the Giallorossi the certainty of being able to face United was Edin Dzeko, on his thirtieth European goal with Roma (and 117th overall), with a split on a personal action by Calafiori that interrupted a series of great suffering. Ajax had in fact passed at the beginning of the second half with Brobbey and had also found the 2-0 with Tadic (canceled with the help of the Var). Then, however, the best gift came from Edin Dzeko, the most awaited man. For a thousand reasons.

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SLOW RHYTHMS

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Fonseca raises Dzeko in the middle of the attack and prefers Diawara to Villar in the control room. Ten Hag, on the other hand, finally decides to leave Schuurs out again, with Jurrien Timber confirmed alongside Martinez and Klaiber on the right wing. Ajax have the obligation to play the game, but then in the first 45 minutes it is not that they peel their hands, quite the contrary. Ten Hag’s team always presses very high on the ball carriers, but finds little space to go vertically, often trying to play on the bank on Tadic (with overlapping towards the center of the outside). The merit, however, is also due to a Rome designed by Fonseca in an intelligent way in the defensive phase and good at never allowing spaces between the lines to build. So to have the first chances are the Giallorossi, with two delicious touches by Dzeko who send Pellegrini into the goal first (weak shot after a 40-meter ride) and then Veretout (goal canceled for offside). After all, Fonseca’s match plan is just that: leave the ball in the game to Ajax (at 45 ‘the Dutch will have 73.7% ball possession) and try to hurt in the spaces, also considering the defensive imbalances of the team by Ten Hag. Pau Lopez, with the usual wrong pass under construction, then gives the Giallorossi chills, but the Spaniard is saved by Diawara, who rejects Klaassen’s safe shot. For the rest, the emotions are seen with the dropper (a high header by Tagliafico and an almost harmless shot by Tadic), also because Neres and Gravenerch replicate the bad performance of Amsterdam, while on the other side Ibanez alternates important closings with a erroraccio in setting. On balance, however, Rome goes to rest with an important result and without running particular dangers.

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BUCK AND ANSWER

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So to increase the weight of his attack Ten Hag inserts Brobbey in place of Antony, shifting Tadic to the left and sending Neres to the other side. Ajax, after all, need two goals and time begins to tighten. The move is the right one and is rewarded already in the 4 ‘with the goal of the Dutch center forward, good at taking advantage of a 40-meter throw by Schuurs and mocking Lopez with a lob. At 11 ‘Tadic’s 2-0 also arrives (flat after Lopez’s rejection again on Brobbey), but luckily for the Giallorossi the referee Taylor cancels with the help of the Var for an obvious foul by Tagliafico on Mkhitaryan. Rome, however, is on the ropes, it almost never manages to go back and build. In short, there is to suffer, even if then there are no more real dangers. Indeed in the 27th minute Roma also managed to put things right with Dzeko, who at the top mocked Stekelenburg after a nice descent by Calafiori (on a masterful opening by Mkhitaryan), with the cross from the outside that was fouled by Gravenberch and became again more inviting for the Bosnian. Once things are put back in place, Roma can breathe again. You have to grit your teeth until the end, of course, also because to raise the white flag for yet another muscle injury is also Calafiori (problem with the right flexor), with Veretout going to make the left outside and Villar in the median. The last minutes are all a series of physical duels, now football is not even played anymore. But Roma managed to bring home the draw and earn the eighth semifinal in its history. Now there is Manchester United and the desire to take a sweet revenge on the English too.

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