Roma is held by Fiorentina as Lukaku sees red

 

Fiorentina have been able to secure an important away point after securing a 1-1 draw against nine-men AS Roma.

Romelu Lukaku had given the Giallorossi an early lead before being sent off. A Paulo Dybala injury and another red card for Nicola Zalewski made the nine men give up a point to their visitors.

Both sides had gone into the clash that was a head-to-head for fourth place, with a point separating them on the Serie A table.

Roma only needed five minutes to break the deadlock with a well-worked move. Down the right came Paulo Dybala’s cross off the outside of the left boot to  Lukaku, who scored with a crouching header from six yards, avoiding the offside trap because he was behind the line of the ball.

Roma almost made it two, but Dybala drilled wide after Nicola Zalewski got away from Michael Kayode to pull back to the edge of the area.

Fiorentina also threatened as Giacomo Bonaventura flicked a ball over the top for M’Bala Nzola, but Rui Patricio came flying out to parry.

However, Roma lost Dybala to an injury after just 24 minutes. The Argentine mistimed the tackle on Arthur Melo and turned his right leg in an odd direction, limping off.

Fiorentina, in their search for an equaliser began to pin the hosts back, but as usual, struggled to turn all the possessions into genuine scoring opportunities. They were stopped from their dangerous run as Bryan Cristante, and Zalewski got booked for stopping the dangerous runs.

Sardar Azmoun’s header went over the bar after a risky Michael Kayode sliding tackle on Zalewski, while Bonaventura fired straight at Rui Patricio, leaving out a better option of a  pass to Jonathan Ikone.

Ikone would spring the offside trap after the restart as he cut inside Zalewski, but the angled drive was well smothered by Rui Patricio.

Roma almost got the second goal from a corner, as Pietro Terracciano did not parry it far enough, and Alfred Duncan’s desperate clearance prevented a tap-in.

Roma also lost substitute Azmoun, who limped off with what seemed to be a calf problem.

Bonaventura was unlucky as his finish with an audacious spin beat Rui Patricio bounced off the crossbar.

Roma were reduced to ten men when Zalewski received a second yellow card for going in late on Kayode near the touchline.

Moments later, Fiorentina made the advantage count as they restored parity. Kouame’s cross from the left found Lucas Martinez-Quarta for a flicked header with his back to goal, looping into the far bottom corner.

In search of a winner, substitute Nico Gonzalez immediately forced a reaction save from Rui Patricio with his header at the back post on a Bonaventura assist.

Rui Patricio was called into action again as he pared away a towering header from Martinez-Quarta.

Roma got another red card, as there was a chaotic situation in the final minutes. Lukaku was shown a straight red card for his extremely late and high lunge on Kouame that tore a large hole in the Fiorentina man’s sock.

Written by Oladipupo