January 10, (THEWILL) – In a frantic Stadio Olimpico match, Jose Mourinho’s Roma squandered a two-goal lead and a late penalty to lose 4-3 to 10-man Juventus.
The game was wonderfully set up following early goals from Tammy Abraham and Paulo Dybala for each club, but a wild second period saw two long-range strikes from Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Lorenzo Pellegrini put the hosts in control.
However, a spectacular seven-minute reversal saw Juventus take the lead through to goals from Manuel Locatelli, Dejan Kulusevski, and Mattia De Sciglio, before Pellegrini’s penalty save from Wojciech Szczesny sealed a dreadful last 20 minutes for the Giallorossi.
Juve were dealt a blow in the first half when Federico Chiesa was forced to leave with a knee injury after a tackle from Chris Smalling, and then saw Matthijs de Ligt sent off for a second yellow card in a handball incident that led to Roma’s penalty kick, but they held on for a famous win in the Italian capital.
In the 11th minute, Abraham gave Roma the lead with a header from Jordan Veretout’s corner, which he flicked across goal and into the right corner.
Just seven minutes later, Juve equalised when Chiesa cut through Roma debutant Ainsley Maitland-Niles before passing to Dybala, who curled a beautiful attempt past Rui Patricio’s despairing dive.
Mkhitaryan collected the ball before hitting from 25 yards, with a strong deflection off De Sciglio carrying the drive over the helpless Szczesny and into the net for Mourinho’s side less than three minutes into the second half.
Pellegrini curled an exquisite free-kick into the top left corner for Roma’s third in the 53rd minute, but Locatelli began the astonishing comeback with a header from an Alvaro Morata cross with 20 minutes remaining.
After a blocked Morata shot and a protracted VAR appeal following an early offside verdict, substitute Kulusevski scored a thrilling equaliser just a few minutes later, before De Sciglio cut inside from the left and fired low past Patricio to make it 4-3.
In the last 10 minutes, De Ligt was sent off for a second bookable offence after a handball, but the Juve bench cheered when former Roma goalkeeper Szczesny saved Pellegrini’s ensuing penalty, ensuring that Massimiliano Allegri’s side took all three points.
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.
