MADRID, 11 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
AS Roma beat Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 this Thursday, thanks to a goal from midfielder Edoardo Bove in the first leg of their Europa League semifinal, an appointment marked by the duel on the bench between the Portuguese José Mourinho and the Spaniard Xabi Alonso.
At the Olympic Stadium in the Italian capital, Bove scored that winning goal for the locals just after the 63rd minute, following a good personal move. Having chested up a ball in three quarters of the field, he closed in on the opponent’s box until he passed his teammate Tammy Abraham.
Well positioned among the Leverkusen centre-backs, Abraham controlled with his right foot and turned swiftly to connect a shot from mid-height also with his right foot. The shot was repelled by the visiting goalkeeper, but Bove himself was attentive to the rebound to execute a left-footed shot into the back of the net.
With only one shot on goal in the entire match and with less possession of the ball than their opponent, Xabi Alonso’s pupils showed little bite to give the situation another air. For this reason, they will have to show another very different face to come back in the duel back in front of their fans.
Next Thursday (9:00 p.m.), Germans and Italians will meet again on the pitch of the BayArena. Roma, entrusted to the work of an experienced José Mourinho in these conflicts, is halfway to reaching its second consecutive final. Last year, they won the Conference League after beating Feyenoord 1-0.