Jose Mourinho’s Roma brushed aside Zorya Luhansk of Ukraine on Thursday night to book their ticket to the Conference League knockout stage. It only remains to be seen whether the Giallorossi will grab the first or the second spot in the group. Coming on top would mean skipping the playoff round with an opponent relegated from Europa League.
To get the first place, Roma will need to beat CSKA Sofia in two weeks and hope that Zorya hold Bodo/Glimt to a draw at least.
But, for now, they can be happy with their comfortable 4-0 win and, moreover, with Nicolò Zaniolo’s brilliant performance. The Azzurri starlet was the undisputed man of the match with one goal and one assist for Tammy Abraham. Zaniolo got a starting spot after being left out in the last two league games and made the best out of his chance.
Tammy Abraham also did his job, finding the back of the net twice after a dreadful first half in which he squandered a handful of favorable chances.
Good for him that Roma still managed to open the scoring before the break, as Carles Perez turned a Stephan El Shaarawy assist into the Giallorossi‘s first goal and Zaniolo doubled the lead from a Jordan Veretout service. Before half time, Roma also took the luxury of missing a penalty with Veretout.
The Giallorossi‘s third goal came just 30 seconds after the restart. This time, Abraham only had to push the ball into the back of the net from point-blank range after Zaniolo had done all the heavy-lifting with a thunderous progression along the right-hand side.
The Englishman, however, completed his redeem on 75 minutes with a spectacular overhead kick that set the score at 4-0 for the home side. It was all easy for Roma tonight but the Giallorossi will need to keep their guard high in two weeks in Sofia as they try to grab the first spot in the group table.