Roma will have to fight to the bitter end for that precious leadership of the Europa League group after his 2-0 defeat allowed Slavia Prague to catch them.
The Giallorossi wanted to lock down qualification and top spot, but also had to look ahead to Sunday’s Derby della Capitale with Lazio. Paulo Dybala was rested, with Nicola Zalewski, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Chris Smalling, Leonardo Spinazzola, Tammy Abraham and Marash Kumbulla injured. Slavia were second after conceding two early goals at the Stadio Olimpico, but while Tomas Holes and Petr Sevcik returned, Matej Jurasek, Ivan Schranz, Taras Kacharaba and David Pech were still on the treatment table.
Jose Mourinho sat out the final match in his UEFA touchline ban for insulting the referee after last season’s Europa League Final.
It was an aggressive start from the hosts, but Christos Zafeiris fired off target from distance and Vaclav Jurecka failed to make the most of a poor Evan Ndicka clearance.
Slavia Prague had a big chance on 27 minutes when Zafeiris crossed from the left, Mojmir Chytil had a wonderful first touch, only to fire over on the turn from six yards.
The hosts eventually took a deserved lead when Mile Svilar parried the Lukas Masopust free header from 12 yards, but only as far as Chytil to pull it back from the by-line for the Jurecka tap-in, despite Ndicka being on the line.
Andrea Belotti’s angled drive was smothered at the near post, then Gianluca Mancini only grazed his head to turn the Leandro Paredes free kick wide.
Zeki Celik went on a strong run, but wasted the finish rather than pass to Lukaku, then Svilar got down for a fantastic fingertip save, pushing the Lukas Provod angled drive round the far post.
Roma threw on Paulo Dybala, who with his first touch saw a volley into the ground bounce over the bar, but Slavia Prague doubled their lead when Masopust was given far too much time and space outside the box to control and smash the right-foot finish into the far bottom corner.
That result cancelled out the 2-0 win at the Olimpico, so the head-to-head record also became identical.
Van Buren almost got a third for the hosts in stoppages, as he got away from Bryan Cristante to dink his finish over Svilar, flashing across an empty net to skim the far post.
This defeat also means that Romelu Lukaku’s record run of 14 consecutive Europa League games on target is over.
To make matters worse, Servette beat Sheriff 2-1 and are on four points, keeping even second place in doubt.
Slavia Prague 2-0 Roma
Jurecka 50 (S), Masopust 74 (S)
Player statistic
| 44' |  |
Leandro Paredes |
| Vaclav Jurecka (Assist: Mojmir Chytil) |
 |
50' | ||
| Lukas Masopust | |
58' | ||
| Lukas Masopust (Assist: Oscar Dorley) |
|
74' | ||
| Petr Sevcik | |
83' | ||
| 90+5' | |
Evan Ndicka |
Match statistic
Mourinho excuse for getting smashed 2-0 : Sarri hurt me with his comment that this is a friendly match (and the Roma fans run to defend him 😂)
Deluded manager at a shambles of a club with the most deluded fanbase in Italy!