2023-05-18 22:00:00
In the final on May 31 in Budapest, Roma will face Sevilla FC, who defeated Juventus Turin on Thursday night following extra time (2-1).
The Romans had won the first leg 1-0 on a goal from the child of the giallorosso club, Edoardo Bove, and resisted the pressing of the men of Xabi Alonso, showing themselves very solid to snatch the draw (0-0) , with a five-man defense, reinforced by Serbian holding midfielder Nemanja Matic.
The exit on injury at the end of the first period of Leonardo Spinazzola (34th), replaced by Nicola Zalewski, did not disturb the Roman defensive structure.
A serenity that was also felt on the side of the coaching benches, the calm of “Mou”, contrasting with the agitation of Xabi Alonso in his area along the sideline where we saw the Basque gesticulate in vain so that his players find the fault in the well-established defensive block of AS Roma.
“We missed a bit of luck. But I’m proud of the guys and the club. The Romans are very experienced with a very experienced coach. In the end they made it very ugly”, regretted Kerem Demirbay following the meeting at the microphone of the RTL broadcaster.
The first period thus looked like a siege of Portuguese goalkeeper Rui Patricio, much more involved than in the first leg of Italy. The first big alert on his goal came from a strike from French international Moussa Diaby, who found the crossbar (12th).
Seventh European final for Mourinho
On several occasions, on attempts by Kerem Demirbay (8th, 21st, 27th) or Sardar Azmoun (29th, 36th), tenured at the forefront of the Bayer attack, Rui Patricio was called upon but on strikes without great danger.
Even the rare possibilities of counter-attacks were hampered by the Romans, who had done the hardest last week at home.
In the second half, Leverkusen continued their dominance with a new long shot from Demirbay, which forced Rui Patricio to relax to avoid the opener for the Rhinelanders.
In the last ten minutes, the 30,210 spectators at the BayArena believed in Azmoun’s opener, but the Iranian’s recovery from the penalty spot narrowly missed the target.
At 60, it will be for Mourinho on May 31 in Budapest his seventh European final of his career, plus three lost European Supercup finals.
Certainly, she will not have the prestige of the coronations in the Champions League with Porto in 2004 and Inter in 2010 (plus a lost final with Chelsea in 2008), but she might allow her to find the C1 next season in case of triumph.
The way via the championship seems more complicated with six points behind 4th place three days from the end of the season.
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