Roma 2 does not betray, drops the trio on Ukrainian soil by bending the soft Zorya 3-0 and positions itself alone in first place in the Conference League group after two games. It took a win to restart, quickly forget the defeat in the derby and regain confidence and self-esteem. The mission succeeded without excessive thrills and with minimal effort, thanks to El Sharaawy’s goal after just seven minutes that paved the way for the Giallorossi. In the second half with the entry of Zaniolo and Abraham, Mou’s team gave the decisive acceleration thanks to goals in two minutes by Smalling and the English striker, who returned to scoring. The consistent turnover decided by the Portuguese coach served to give the owners a breather and to give the others the opportunity to show off. Among them Darboe, who showed quality, reliability and precision. His illuminating assist for the Pharaoh who made the Giallorossi away game much easier. After the 5-1 at home against the CSKA of Sofia another round result in Europe that returns the smile to Trigoria waiting to resume the race in the championship and gives Mourinho the victory on the day of a historic milestone, that of the 200 races in the European cups. May it be a good viaticum. On the pitch from the first minute, the Roma coach also relied on Shomurodov, Perez and captain Pellegrini, returning after the disqualification that forced him to skip the derby.
The start is balanced, with Zorya lively in the early stages but Roma unlocks at the first real lunge with El Shaarawy who takes advantage of the beautiful verticalization of Darboe who immediately highlights by fishing the Pharaoh in depth who after having bypassed the goalkeeper deposits in net. The match for the Giallorossi is therefore immediately downhill, with the team in full control. The zorya shows up in the 17 ‘with an attempt by Gromov from the edge of the area but it is still in Rome to become really dangerous with Shomurodov who on a pass from Pellegrini, is alone in the area in front of the goalkeeper but his plate diagonally it is not effective by allowing the goalkeeper to push back and keep the Ukrainians afloat. The rhythms have slowly slowed down with the passing of the minutes, with Roma that has mainly managed and Zorya that goes on in flames.
In the second half, Mourinho’s team tries to keep faith with the same score, limiting themselves to sting at the restart (at the 50 ‘brave exit of Matsapura on the feet of El Shaarawy with the ball that carom on a teammate but the Zorya is saved) and keep the Ukrainians who become dangerous in the 54th minute, due to a ‘casual’ disengagement in the area with Smalling forced to close the intervention of Rui Patricio with an effective and dangerous lob. However, the game proceeds sleepily, with sudden flashes and long pauses. For this reason, after an hour of play, also to avoid nasty surprises, Mou decides to change, he brings out Perez and Shomoudorov for Zaniolo and Abraham who just two minutes after entering the field hits the external base of the pole. But the shock still came and in the 65th minute Smalling secured the match and picked up an assist from Cristante on a corner kick. To close the match is Abraham who makes the most of a defensive indecision of the Ukrainians on Zaniolo’s percussion and hits the mark by placing the ball in the far corner. The match has little else to say, Mou puts in Diawara, Villar and Mayoral to give breath to Darboe, Pellegrini and El Shaarawy. Roma enjoy the top of the group thanks to the goalless draw between Cska Sofia and Bode Glimt and can now dive back into the league with greater confidence.