Mancini secures win for Roma against Milan in Europa League

Gianluca Mancini’s header from a controversial corner secured a slim win for AS Roma in the first leg of the Europa League tie against AC Milan.

This makes two goals in two games for the Italian defender, who scored against Lazio last weekend in the Rome derby.

Roma striker Romelu Lukaku was in an offside position when he received the ball and laid a pass for El Shaarawy, whose effort got deflected, and Mike Maignan parried it over the bar.

A protest about the corner decision resulted in a yellow card for Stefano Pioli.

Milan would suffer a further blow as Pellegrini scored from the resulting corner.

The 27-year-old was given a little room and made the most of a block from Romelu Lukaku to squeeze past the Rossoneri defenders, scoring what eventually became the winner.

In their last meeting in Serie A  in January, Milan defeated Roma, which had Jose Mourinho in charge.

The Rossoneri had remained unbeaten against Roma since October 2019, managing six wins and three draws. They have also been still waiting for a home defeat since October 2017.

Danielle de Rossi made some changes that saw Stephan El Shaarawy, who was unusually on the right flank, and Lorenzo Pellegrini, wide left, leaving the hosts surprised.

Milan had the first opportunity through Tijjani Reijnders, who tested Mile Svilar with a low-angled drive. 

Lukaku would deny Milan an equaliser four minutes later on their corner, as the Belgian made a double goal-line clearance on the Olivier Giroud headers.

Lukaku failed to connect with the low El Shaarawy ball rolled into the six-yard box.

Roma reduced Milan’s threat, making the hosts struggle to create chances. Rafael  Leao was quiet while Theo Hernandez nodded off-target from a corner, and Reijnders again had a go from a distance.

The most significant opportunity for Rossoneri came through Yacine Adli. Hie cross-stitch surprised Svilar, fingertipping it onto the underside of the crossbar at the 75th minute.

Milan had an opportunity to restore parity in 87 minutes when Samuel Chukwueze went on a slalom through defenders and laid it off for Giroud, only for the striker to thump the crossbar from close range with his weaker foot.

Written by Oladipupo Mojeed