Roma beat Milan
2-1
NEWS
and
Atalanta-Liverpool
0-1
NEWS
in the second leg of the Europa League quarter-finals. Roma and Atalanta in the semi-finals. The Giallorossi will face Bayer Leverkusen, the Dea against Marseille
GOALS and HIGHLIGHTS
In the 85th minute Roma-MILAN 2-1 -
Gabbia closes the gap for the Rossoneri
At 31' Roma with ten men, Celik sent off (direct red card)
At 22' ROMA-Milan 2-0 -
The Giallorossi double their lead with Dybala. Long throw for Lukaku who with his physicality wins the duel with Gabbia, then serves in the middle but the Rossoneri central defender tries to sweep, the ball is intercepted by Dybala who launches a curling shot from the edge which goes into the corner.
At 12' ROMA-Milan 1-0
Mancini gives the Giallorossi the lead
.
Pellegrini unleashes a curling shot from the edge, the ball hits the post but ends up at the feet of Mancini who just has to deposit it into the net.
At 5' Atalanta-LIVERPOOL 0-1
- Penalty kick scored by
Salah
for the Reds. Penalty beaten perfectly to cross, with Musso diving from the opposite side.
THE STATEMENTS AT THE END OF THE MATCH
De Rossi: "It's a pride to coach this Roma"
- "To eliminate a team like Milan you need excellence, you needed a great heart once in ten. You had to play an intelligent match as well as a fast one and the boys were good. It's a pride to be the coach of a team like this because it wasn't easy against this Milan." Daniele De Rossi said this to Sky Sport while commenting on the passage of the round in the Europa League.
Pioli: 'Out with regrets, Roma ahead with merit'
- "We leave with many regrets, Roma deservedly went through." Stefano Pioli said this on Sky Sport while commenting on the elimination in the Europa League. "What did we miss? There's a bit of everything: we lacked the quality and determination to overturn their 2-0 - he added -. We can do much better, we could have come out of this double header differently. Instead We haven't been able to raise our level." Then he concluded: "We had to be more clear-headed, intense, not forcing plays. When opportunities arose we didn't finalize them. In the decisive plays they were better, we weren't at a high level."
Gasperini: "We won two medals with Liverpool"
- "At half-time there was our best trophy. I asked my players if they wanted to lower themselves a bit and they replied: 'absolutely not, let's go and get them' It's the triumph of my work." Gian Piero Gasperini, having reached the semi-finals of the Europa League by eliminating Liverpool, praises the spirit of his Atalanta: "We immediately started to attack hard, pressing up to the goalkeeper, at the cost of exposing ourselves to their speed and technique. There are many ways to defend ourselves and we did it by pressing", remarked the Nerazzurri coach.
Klopp: "Atalanta deserved to go through"
- "I'm disappointed but not frustrated or angry. Atalanta deserved to go through." Thus Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool manager, after the elimination from the Europa League in the quarter-finals: "We didn't lose the two matches tonight, but at home. Tonight we were in the game, the second goal would have destabilized the opponent but we couldn't to do it: now we can concentrate on the championship. We have a fundamental match ahead of us in London against Fulham."
Mancini and then Dybala, Milan knocked out and Roma in the semi-finals
A beautiful and concrete Roma flies to the semi-final of the Europa League in the magical evening with two faces, in the usual sold out Olimpico. In the first twenty minutes the Giallorossi put Milan on the ropes and secured qualification with goals from Mancini (who did an encore after San Siro, dedicating the 1-0 to his close acquaintance and young footballer who died on Monday) and Dybala, but then from the half hour mark they were left with ten men due to Celik's mistake on Leao and they were forced to resist the Rossoneri's vehement attacks for the entire match, even doing without the muscles of Lukaku who was out due to injury. AC Milan's forcing led to Gabbia's only goal in the final for a 2-1 for De Rossi's team
, confirmed for the foreseeable future on the Giallorossi bench
, who will have to face the German champions Bayer Leverkusen to dream of the final in Dublin. In Milan the starting team is Tomori who returns after disqualification, surprisingly space in midfield for Musah in place of Reijnders, while trust goes to Giroud and Leao up front. De Rossi relies on Bove in midfield to replace the suspended Cristante and the trident Dybala, Lukaku, El Shaarawy. Ready to go with Roma who were immediately dangerous with Lukaku and who in the first minutes showed himself to be more present in the Milan area, forced to immediately make two heavy fouls first on Dybala and then on Bove to slow down the Giallorossi.
Only 12 minutes passed and De Rossi's team took the lead again with Mancini who, like in the first leg, made it 1-0: Pellegrini's right-footed shot hitting the post, the Giallorossi defender was quick on the rebound and flattened it to empty goal pushes into the net
. Mancini's celebration is touching with his companions who kiss him and embrace him for the loss he suffered following the death of his sister's boyfriend's brother, the young footballer Mattia Giani. The Roma defender dedicates the goal to him by showing a shirt with the writing 'Hello Mattia forever with us'.
Milan's reaction was not long in coming: the Rossoneri tried to equalize immediately with Loftus-Cheek's shot hitting the crossbar, but they went too far and ten minutes after conceding the deficit they conceded the second goal with a nice counterattack by Roma . Lukaku wins the physical duel on the left of the area, the Belgian tries the cross into the middle, the cross is blocked right at the feet of Dybala who scores with a splendid left-footed shot. And so after just twenty minutes, the Giallorossi, on the strength of their 1-0 victory at San Siro, secured their passage to the next round, with Milan now called upon to score four goals to reach the semi-final. A few minutes and Roma lose Lukaku due to a muscle problem in his right thigh flexor: the Belgian is replaced by Abraham.
Immediately after having had to do without Lukaku, the Giallorossi were left with ten men for the red card to Celik: the Turkish full-back recovering from Leao slipped on the Portuguese's ankle and was sent off by the Polish referee Marciniak.
Milan, two goals down, found themselves in numerical superiority and poured into Roma's area, coming close to scoring several times and being denied a penalty by VAR. De Rossi ran for cover and brought in another defender, Llorente in place of Dybala, while Pioli strengthens the attack by bringing Jovic onto the pitch in place of Bennacer. There are seven minutes of injury time in the first half decided by Marciniak but the Rossoneri are unable to penetrate the Roma defense. While the teams return to the changing rooms De Rossi waits for the Polish referee to probably ask him for explanations on Celik's direct expulsion. Double substitution for Milan who try to go all out with the extra man in the second half: Reijnders and Chukwueze come on, Calabria and Loftus Cheek come out
. Pioli's team is constantly on the attack but it is Roma who come close to making it 3-0 first with a counterattack by El Shaarawy and then with a sensational goal from Abraham two steps away from Maignan. Pioli changes his cards again: Florenzi and Okafor come in, Musah and Pulisic come out, but the goal doesn't arrive for the Rossoneri. De Rossi also changes: Pellegrini out, author of a super save at the end
of the match, for Renato Sanchez and Bove for Angelino. In the final, Milan shortened with Gabbia, but Roma resisted with order until the end, celebrating a well-deserved semi-final in a crazy Olimpico together with N'Dicka under the south curve after the scare in Udine.
Atalanta's feat, Liverpool out and Dea in the semi-final
The only flaw is the disqualification of Hien and Zappacosta, who are within a booking of a booking. Salah's advantage is a penalty, the suffering thereafter is very relative, the unexploited opportunities on both fronts are a handful. Strengthened by the three-goal advantage at Anfield, Atalanta narrowly lost in the second leg of the Europa League quarter-finals against Liverpool, reaching the second European semi-final in their history 36 years after the previous one, the legendary one against Malines in the UEFA Cup after beating Sporting Lisbon.
Significant presence at the festive Bergamo stadium was the then captain Glenn Stromberg, acclaimed by the fans before kick-off. Seven minutes, including the couple for the check, and the road becomes uphill for the Bergamo players. Ruggeri's wide arm on Alexander-Arnold's ball from the short side causes the penalty scored by the Egyptian, wrong-footing Musso, leaving the Reds with two goals to recover and three to overturn the result of the first leg
. The danger of doubling the score around the twelfth minute was thwarted by Musso, when, forcing him to exit, Luis Diaz appeared in front of him, unmarked by Robertson's action extended by Gakpo, and Szoboszlai tried centrally from the line. For Atalanta's first conclusion, between one goal of possession by the guests and another, we have to wait until the twenty-eighth with Miranchuk's left-footed shot crossing wide on control from the edge missed by Scamacca, following a pass from Ederson, which became an assist.
Klopp's eleven seems to thrive on flare-ups, like the triangulation between Diaz and Salah after half an hour which forces Djimsiti to close with a diagonal slide, while Salah in the thirty-ninth minute wastes Gakpo's relaunch by widening the lob only in front of Musso. Gioia choked in the throat at the Curva Nord and at Koopmeiners two minutes later, because the home marksman was offside on De Roon's through ball.
The second half begins and Ederson calls the moving penalty into the arms of Alisson in the area pinball triggered from the back by Zappacosta with touches from Miranchuk and Scamacca, while Kolasinac obviates by sweeping the area after Musso's empty exit from a free kick from away from Robertson
. Van Dijk corrects Alexander-Arnold's pattern with a header centrally before the quarter of an hour, with Koopmeiners' response always central from the edge of the box following Zappacosta. Beyond the twentieth Ruggeri exchanges with Miranchuk finding Mac Allister in the path and Scamacca, again on the initiative of the right winger, who often leaves Robertson on the spot, significantly raises his aim. When Klopp had already changed four players, Gasperini brought on Pasalic for Ederson and the fresher De Ketelaere for Scamacca, who was unable to send the imprecise Koopmeiners on target beyond half an hour. The fair of half chances in red ends with Nunez's third half on Mac Allister's free kick: Bergamo can rejoice.