Serie A | Roma 1-0 Genoa: Lukaku's final gift

Romelu Lukaku’s header after Leandro Paredes had been sent off allowed 10-man Roma to beat Genoa and guarantees them sixth place, but his season is over.

The Giallorossi had lost out on the top five, but sixth could potentially still get them into the Champions League if Atalanta win the Europa League Final and finish fifth.

See how it unfolded on the Liveblog.

Paulo Dybala was only fit for the bench and the season was over for Leonardo Spinazzola, while the Grifone missed Mattia Bani and Alan Matturro.

Mile Svilar made a desperate double save on the Evan Ndicka own goal attempt and Mateo Retegui follow-up, but the offside flag was already up for Caleb Ekuban’s cross.

Tommaso Baldanzi completed a quick give and go with Lorenzo Pellegrini to blast over the bar off the outside of the boot.

Retegui and Bryan Cristante couldn’t keep their efforts down, though Cristante did manage to get a snapshot straight at Josip Martinez after the restart.

Ndicka charged down the Retegui strike after squirming between defenders, while Stephan El Shaarawy curled wide following a nutmeg.

There was a flurry of activity on 67 minutes as Ndicka charged down two efforts in the same move, then Lukaku sprinted away on the counter to sting Martinez’s gloves at the near post.

Just as Roma were pinning Genoa back including a scuffed Dybala finish, they were reduced to 10 men by an all too familiar moment of madness. Paredes received a yellow card for dissent, visibly swore at the referee and received a straight red within seconds.

Despite being a man down, the Giallorossi still took the lead. Martinez flew to parry the Angelino strike, the move continued and El Shaarawy’s cross found a Lukaku header into the near bottom corner.

Romelu Lukaku lets his emotions go as he heads Roma in front against Genoa 😤

📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/vEcBfEm4sU

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 19, 2024

Lukaku was booked for taking his shirt off to celebrate and will be suspended for the final game of the season against Empoli, along with Paredes. This means that realistically it was Lukaku’s final appearance in the Roma jersey.

Genoa pushed back, Vitinha saw his cross-shot flash just past both Morten Thorsby and the far post and deep into stoppages Svilar flew to palm a Ruslan Malinovskyi screamer out of the top corner.

Roma secure sixth place, because even if Lazio catch them on 63 points, the Giallorossi have a superior head-to-head record.