Edin Dzeko bagged a brace for Roma to win 4-2 after Austria Vienna had opened the scoring in the first 120 seconds.
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Edin Dzeko bagged a brace for Roma to win 4-2 after Austria Vienna had opened the scoring in the first 120 seconds.
Follow the action as it happens from all four Italian Europa League competitors on the LIVEBLOG.
Daniele De Rossi was re-routed into a three-man defence due to an injury crisis ruling out Federico Fazio, Thomas Vermaelen, Kostas Manolas, Emerson Palmieri, Alessandro Florenzi, Francesco Totti, Mario Rui and Moustapha Seck. The hosts missed goalkeeper Robert Almer, David De Paula and Richard Windbichler.
It was Luciano Spalletti’s 50th European match in charge of Roma, the first Coach to achieve this, albeit in two different spells.
Considering these sides drew 3-3 a fortnight ago, it was perhaps unsurprising that this game started with a bang.
Within two minutes a double defensive error had seen Juan Jesus allow the cross, then Antonio Rudiger came sliding in and essentially took the ball off Alisson and this left Kayode to tap in unmarked at the far post.
The Giallorossi fought back immediately and were back level by the fifth, as Bruno Peres sprung the offside trap and rolled across the six-yard box for Edin Dzeko to tap in.
Stephan El Shaarawy wasted a golden opportunity, hitting a fresh-air shot from the penalty spot on the Bruno Peres assist.
Roma did turn the game around soon enough, as Dzeko’s header from a Leandro Paredes corner was rather clumsily cleared off the line and De Rossi tapped the rebound into an empty net.
The hosts were allowed more of the ball as the half wore on, but El Shaarawy had another great chance denied by a desperate Larsen sliding interception.
Roma kept wasting half-chances and had a scare when Venuto drilled a solo effort wide, but gave themselves a two-goal cushion thanks to more shaky defending.
El Shaarawy’s ball over the top seemed to confuse the defenders and goalkeeper, so Dzeko timed his intervention well for a cushioned volley from six yards. It was his 12th goal of the season for Roma, the eighth in seven competitive outings.
Austria Vienna crumbled and there was a fourth, as Paredes’ free kick was deflected off a defender and Radja Nainggolan reacted quicker than anyone to turn in the loose ball.
Dzeko almost completed his hat-trick, but couldn’t go clear on goal because his attempted nutmeg on the last man didn’t work, and fired another solo effort over the bar.
The hosts did get one back when Kevin Strootman misjudged a Rotpuller cross and Grunwald smashed it past Alisson.
Austria Vienna 2-4 Roma
Kayode 2 (A), Dzeko 5, 65 (R), De Rossi 18 (R), Nainggolan 78 (R), Grunwald 89 (A)
Austria Vienna: Hadzikic; Larsen, Rotpuller, Filipovic, Martschinko; Serbest (Prokop 84), Holzhauser; Pires, Grunwald, Venuto; Kayode (Friesenbichler 71)
Roma: Alisson; Rüdiger, De Rossi, Juan Jesus; Peres, Paredes, Strootman, El Shaarawy (Gerson 70); Nainggolan; Dzeko, Perotti (Iturbe 84)
Ref: Estrada (ESP)