Europa: Bilbao send 10-man Roma out of tournament

Atletico Bilbao progressed to the quarterfinals of the Europa League at the expense of AS Roma, taking a numerical advantage over their visitors to win the tie 4-3 on aggregate.

Roma suffered an early blow; an early Mats Hummels red card massively affected them in the away tie game, costing the Giallorossi a 3-1 defeat and a Europa League elimination in the round of 16.

Claudio Ranieri’s men had won the first leg 2-1 in Rome last week, but the return leg couldn’t have had a worse start as Hummels was sent off after just 11 minutes for denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity, as he committed a foul close to the center circle.

Mile Svilar had kept the Giallorossi in the game with two stunning saves on Sannadi, but couldn’t but was unable to stop three from going into his net at the end of the game.

The Athletic Club striker  Nico Williams also had another chance, which he wasted with an avoidable chip attempt. The Spanish international hit the post with a lovely curler.

Roma failed to make use of an opportunity as they could only put their noses out with an Angelino trivela cross that didn’t find any teammate inside the box.

The home side took the lead and restored parity on aggregate seconds before the half-time break. Nico collected a cross at the far post and found the net despite Angelino’s deflection.

Eldor Shomurodov, a replacement for Paulo Dybala in the second half, had one of the best chances for Roma, but he was denied by Agirrezabala at the near post.

 Svilar was again called into action a few seconds later as he went down very quickly to save a Berenguer shot from inside the box.

The ex-Torino delivered a corner to Yuri, who converted their second goal with a towering header.

Nico Williams then took the game beyond their visitors when he made it three with a lovely solo goal that saw him dribble past three Roma defenders inside the box.

The Giallorossi got a consolidation in stoppage time after Andoni Gorosabel fouled Stephan El Shaarawy inside the box.

Leandro Paredes from the spot kick sent the Athletic keeper the wrong way, but it was too late to keep qualification hopes alive.