The maximum with the minimum. Rome in the final of the Conference League – the new and third cup established by UEFA – with a Abraham’s header in the 10th minute of the first halfthen a couple more attempts worthy of doubling and finally a long and unnerving wait for time to pass without Leicester trying to be threatening.
It wasn’t a match, it was an epiphany with the appearance of a European final that can give Mourinho’s team a trophy after fourteen years. Whether it will be an opportunity to redeem a season that is not exactly exciting (Roma will finish from fifth place down) we still do not know. What is certain is that on May 25, in Tirana, the Giallorossi will face the Dutch side Feyenoord, unbeaten in Marseille, in the return semi-final (first leg 3-2), in a balanced match with a plausible victory.
Of course, it will be necessary to play better than last night and when I say better, I mean, to understand the management of the ball and the relative restarts. Too little monopolize half an hour and then start controlling the game, leaving the ball to the opponent. Strange, indeed, that Leicester did not know how to take advantage of it, perhaps raising the pace, perhaps pressing higher or shooting better from distance. But Rodgers is now a small team. Eleventh in the Premier, emptied of samples with which, after the title won by Ranieri, they managed to remain competitive anyway, Leicester is worth any mid-table Italian. Mourinho knew this from the first leg, when he did not take the opportunity to win and mortgage the final. So, last night, he staged the most sparagnina version of Roma. The one that, like any Juventus, scores, plays on the thrust of the advantage and then prefers to administer.
The show, therefore, was more the full Olimpico (70,000) singing, dancing, waving and shouting his enthusiasm compared to a low quality comparison. Roma weren’t overwhelming, even though they started better than Leicester.
From the left axis, made up of the young winger Zalewski and Lorenzo Pellegrini, the first dangers for Schmeichel came. After 7 minutes and 23 ”, the boy wins a free-kick that the captain hits directly on the goal. The Danish goalkeeper, albeit a little awkwardly, takes a corner.
Less than a minute later, again from the left and again with Zalewski and Pellegrini, a fruitless corner is born. But on the next, still kicked by Pellegrini, even if from the right, Abraham heads off and puts it under the crossbar. The striker’s first goal at Leicester and opportunity immediately exploited on set kicks, the Achilles heel of Rodgers’ team. On the occasion it is Ricardo Pereira who envelops himself in Abraham, but his disordered attempt to disturb him is shipwrecked in the presence of the high jump and the head of the Romanist.
On the right of the English defense there is a chasm if it is true, as it is true, that Zalewski and Pellegrini strike up yet another combination (16 ‘) with the captain’s shot still blocked by the goalkeeper.
Roma play better for two reasons. First. Leicester makes mistakes even in the simplest plays. According to. The advantage takes the pressure off, instills safety and allows for quality actions. Like that, propitiated by Abraham who, snatches the ball from an opponent in the trocar, skips another one and serves the overlap of Zaniolo to the right of him. The shot is a sure shot, but, before Schmeichel intervenes, Evans deflects.
We are not yet half an hour of the first half and Roma practically stops here. Mourinho perceives that Leicester is a small thing. However, instead of speeding up, and perhaps insisting on 3-4-2-1, he lowers Pellegrini and, at times, Zaniolo too, for a very conservative 3-5-1-1.
I repeat: Rome runs no risk (the first shots on goal by the English are by Maddison in the 78th minute and by Iheanacho, who took over from Barnes, in the 82nd minute), but for this reason I wonder if it was the case to recover the ball (an operation that the Giallorossi almost succeeded in always) and activate the restart.
However it goes like this and to animate (so to speak) the game are only the changes: Amartey for Lookman and Iheanacho for Barnes at half-time. Then Castagne for Pereira (69 ‘), Perez for Dewsbury-Hall (76’). The cramps of the Roma fans (the tension plays its part) forced Mourinho to remove Zaniolo (78 ‘) for the benefit of Veretout, then out of Zalewski and into Vina (84’). Abraham is exhausted, but he has to wait until 88 ‘to see Shomurodov alternate. There may be poison in the queue. Maddison shoots out a great shot from the edge (92 ‘), Sergio Oliveira (94’) tries to surprise Schmeichel with a shot deflected for a corner with difficulty.
It’s 95 ‘e thirty-one years after the last time, Roma are going to play a European final. Even if it is called Conference, it cannot be said that it was not the time.
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