10-man AS Roma held on to see off Serie A rivals AC Milan 2-1 at the Stadio Olimpico to book their place in the UEFA Europa League semi-finals.
Leading 1-0 from the first leg, early goals from Gianluca Mancini and Paulo Dybala put the Giallorossi firmly in control of the tie.
Roma defender Zeki Celik was red-carded in the 31st minute for tucking in Rafael Leao’s corner, but AC Milan could not make a difference despite a late consolation goal from Matteo Gabbia, who failed to make the save.
Confirming ahead of the AC Roma game that head coach Daniele De Rossi will remain in charge “for the foreseeable future”, the former midfielder has overseen a turnaround in favor since joining in January after José Mourinho was sacked.
Mancini, whose goal settled the first leg at the San Siro, opened the scoring in the 12th minute.
Roma captain Lorenzo Pellegrini collected the ball just outside the penalty area and curled a shot towards the far post. Mancini got to the rebound first and knocked it in from 10 yards.
AC Milan went looking for a way back when Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s angled drive bounced off the ground and bounced onto the crossbar. Roma doubled their lead in the 22nd minute.
Romelu Lukaku showed great strength to get past the Gabbia and get to the left side of the penalty area. Although the Milan defender recovered to poke home Lukaku’s cross, the ball fell to Dybal, who curled it into the far bottom corner.
Belgian forward Lukaku was then injured and was replaced by Tammy Abraham in the 29th minute.
Roma found themselves down to 10 men just after the half-hour when Celik slid in on Leao as the Portuguese striker sprinted down the left and was shown a straight red card by Polish referee Szymon Marciniak.
The visitors soon claimed a penalty when the ball bounced around the crowded penalty area and appeared to hit Mancini’s hand.
However, after reviewing the incident on the pitch monitor, the referee ruled that the ball hit Olivier Giroud’s hand first.
Paulo Dybala was also forced off through injury just before half-time when Diego Llorente came on.
Roma, who climbed from ninth to fifth in Serie A under De Rossi, were content to allow Milan plenty of possession but without really stretching the home backline.
The Giallorossi looked set to hit Milan on the counter, Leonardo Spinazzola played clear down the left but his low angle was saved by Mike Maignan.
On the hour, Leao then cut inside and pulled the ball back for Luka Jovic, but his shot from 10 yards was straight at Roma goalkeeper Mile Svilar.
Roma winger Stephan El Shaarawy broke free down the right and sent in a cross that Abraham first tried to nudge at goal with the back of his hand – then blazed over the loose ball.
Milan continued to try to break Roma down before finally scoring late on when defender Gabbio headed in Lea’s cross with five minutes remaining.
In stoppage time, Milan defender Theo Hernandez was initially sent off for a foul on El Shaarawy – but the referee reversed his decision after another look at the monitor and showed a yellow card instead.
Leave a comment