Roma defeat Bilbao with a slim margin in Europa League first leg

AS Roma secured a 2-1 win in the first leg of the UEFA Europa League round of 16 clash against Atletic Bilbao.

This means the tie can swing either way ahead of the second leg in Spain, and the the La Liga team is expected to turn on the heat against their Italian guests next Thursday.

Claudio Ranieri’s men secured the victory with the last kick of the game as Saelemaekers released a through ball for Eldor Shomurodov, who controlled, turned, and drilled into the net.

There was a delay in the confirmation of the goal as the VAR checked for offside. After the check was complete and the goal awarded, Roma erupted into celebration.

Half of the job is done, but there’s more to do in Spain next week.

The hosts had gone behind in the tie through Inaki Williams’s effort before Angelino restored parity for them with a little bit of luck.

Celik gets down the right and pulled back to the far post where Angelino scuffed the finish under pressure from nine yards, which made the ball to spin, actually puts and bounced in off he inside of the upright.

The visitors took advantage of Roma’s dreadful defending from a corner when they took the lead. The ball got flicked on by Aitar Paredes, Cristante was left alone at the back post between two Athletic players, and Williams got there first to bundle over from point-blank range.

The Giallorossi went into the tie in fine form, winning five of their last six competitive games and drawing the other, including the elimination of FC Porto in the play-offs.

They had the chance when Artem Dovbyk sprung the offside trap on a smart Niccolò Pisilli through ball and managed to turn Yeray Alvarez, only to slip on the turf as he was pulling the trigger.

Roma thought they had scored the opener when Tommaso Baldanzi pounced on some shaky defending from the Cristante ball over the top and laid it off for Dybala, whose finish smacked the underside of the bar and bounced back out.

The guests gave a warning when Yeray Alvarez nodded a corner just wide while Sannadi flicked the ball inches wide of the far post from six yards.

Abd, they made no mistake at the dawn of the second half in taking the lead. Unai Gomez’s shot got charged down after a poor Evan N’Dicka clearance. The resulting corner saw Aitar Paredes flicked it on for Inaki Williams to nod in at the back post relatively undisturbed.

Roma had a chance to reply immediately when Dybala generously laid it off for Baldanzi, who panicked as a defender came sliding in and blasted over the bar.

They eventually draw level as Zeki Celik pulled back from the right for Angelino at the far stick, the scuffed finish giving it a little bit of spin to go in off the inside of the upright.

Former Torino player Alex Berenguer had a chance to punish Roma again from another corner but failed to take advantage of another defensive mix-up on the Inaki Williams pull-back.

Athletic Club got reduced to 10 men, as Alvarez received a second yellow card for manhandling Shomurodov on the counter-attack.

With the last kick of the game, Roma made the extra man count and turned it around as Shomurodov sprung the offside trap on the Saelemaekers through ball, turned and drilled into the near bottom corner.