UCL: Impressive Roma secure draw at Fenerbahce

Roma opened their Champions League campaign with a creditable 1-1 draw away at Fenerbahce on Thursday.

The Rome club went ahead in Istanbul through Bryan Cristante while the hosts restored parity with Archie Brown’s goal.

This is a good result for Gian Piero Gasperini’s team, which returned to the tournament after seven years.

The Giallorossi also went into the tie on the back of three consecutive Serie A victories, scoring ten goals and conceding just once.

Gasperini couldn’t call on Lorenzo Pellegrini, who was still out of action due to injury. Still, the Italian tactician had Devyne Rensch, who was back from the sidelines, with Donyell Malen, Paulo Dybala and Matias Soulé also available.

It was also the first time Fenerbahce would return to the Champions League after 18 years of absence.

They were without Matteo Guendouzi, who is serving a suspension for insulting French fans during the fiery play-off with Lyon. 

The hosts were also without Jayden Oosterwolde and Marco Asensio due to injuries, while former Serie A players Milan Skriniar, Romelu Lukaku and Mert Muldur were in the squad with Mason Greenwood, who chose the Turkish side over Roma this summer.

The Italians dominated possession early and eventually took the lead.

It was the hosts who first had a shot on target as Mile Svilar was called into action. The goalie made a save from a Kerem Akturkoglu counter-attack, while Dybala stung Ederson’s gloves at the near post.

Roma were stopped from making another attempt with Ismael Yuksek making a decisive tackle on Malen inside the penalty area.

The hosts couldn’t eventually stopped the Roma club from opening the European account when Malen cut inside from the left and laid it off for Bryan Cristante to drill right-footed through a sea of legs into the far bottom corner from the edge of the box.

They had a chance of doubling their lead moments later, but Wesley hit a fresh-air volley from 12 yards on the Dybala cross from the right.

Fenerbahce restored parity early in the second half, as Archie Brown sprung the offside trap on a smart Greenwood disguised pass through the center, dinking a delicate finish over on-rushing Svilar.

The momentum swung in their favor, and they threatened a second moments later, but Svilar was alert by sprinting off his line to narrow the angle on Muriqi after a N’Golo Kante slide-rule pass.

Referee turned down Dybala’s penalty appeals for a Milan Skriniar shirt tug. At the same time, Greenwood hit the side-netting after shrugging off Wesley, and Malen fired over from a tricky angle on the Soulé assist.

Roma were almost awarded a penalty in the 68th minute when Kerim Aktarkoglu tripped Dybala, but VAR showed the contact was just outside the area.

Substitute Lukaku, within 60 seconds of his introduction, rolled across for Oguz Aydin’s deflected effort, forcing Svilar into a desperate save with cat-like reflexes.

Fenerbahce were fresher as the game wore on and Nathan Ake had a chance to turn it around, only for his header on a free kick to thump the frame of the goal, with Brown offside on the rebound.