February 20, (THEWILL) – In a thrilling match between Roma and Verona, Ola Solbakken scored his debut goal in a Roma jersey, leading his team to victory and ending Verona’s five-match unbeaten run.
Despite injury problems, Roma managed to stay joint third with Milan in the Serie A table. Paulo Dybala and Lorenzo Pellegrini were both out with muscular problems, leaving Solbakken to make his first start for Roma. Rick Karsdorp also returned for the first time since his row with Jose Mourinho
Verona also had a spate of injuries with Miguel Veloso, Milan Djuric, Ajdin Hrustic, and Thomas Henry, all sidelined. The game also produced another injury moment as Bryan Cristante, accidentally caught Tammy Abraham, in the face with a trailing boot, leading to the exit of the Roma striker after just 15 minutes.
However, there was enough in the Roma goal and win to lift the spirits of their fans. The winning goal was from a well-worked passing move that saw Leonardo Spinazzola’s back-heel flick to set up Solbakken’s winning goal just before half-time. Verona pushed hard in the second half but were unable to find the equalizer.
Roma could have doubled the scores but for a desperate flying save by Verona keeper, Lorenzo Montipo, in the 89th minute from Andrea Belotti’s header. Roma will next play Salzburg in the Europa League on Thursday while Verona will host Fiorentina next Monday.
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.
