April 11, (THEWILL)- AS Roma emerged victorious in their UEFA Europa League quarter-final with a narrow 1-0 win over AC Milan at the San Siro. The opening leg of the tie was a tightly contested affair, with the visitors taking a slender advantage heading into the second leg at the Stadio Olimpico next week.
The match-winning goal came in the 17th minute, when Roma defender Gianluca Mancini expertly headed home Paulo Dybala’s corner kick, leaving AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan helpless. The controversial build-up to the goal saw Romelu Lukaku in an offside position before finding Stephan El Shaarawy, whose deflected effort was tipped over by Maignan.
Milan boss Stefano Pioli was left furious on the sideline, arguing that Lukaku should have been flagged offside, for which he was cautioned by the referee. However, the visitors capitalised on the opportunity and took the lead through Mancini’s pinpoint header.
The home side pressed for an equaliser, with Olivier Giroud coming close on two occasions, but his headed attempts were cleared off the line by none other than Lukaku. Milan struggled to create clear-cut chances throughout the first half, with Tijjani Reijnders’ long-range effort the closest they came to finding the back of the net.
Despite a rebirth under manager Daniele De Rossi, Roma have historically faced significant struggles against Milan, winning none of their previous nine meetings. However, they managed to enact revenge upon Stefano Pioli’s men for the first time with De Rossi at the helm.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
