Andrea Belotti broke the deadlock three minutes into the half-hour mark, before Paulo Dybala doubled the lead seven minutes later.
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AS Roma produced an impressive team performance at Stadio Olimpico on Thursday to beat Red Bull Salzburg 2-0 in the second leg of their Europa League playoff tie. Jose Mourinho’s side overturned a one-goal deficit to secure a 2-1 aggregate win and enter the last-16 of Europe’s second tier club competition. Andrea Belotti broke the deadlock three minutes into the half-hour mark, before Paulo Dybala doubled the lead seven minutes later.
💬 “A great win against a Champions League side.”
José Mourinho after our #UEL win over FC Salzburg! 👊
Read here 👉 https://t.co/8FzGHOas6Y#ASRoma #RomaSalzburg pic.twitter.com/d8L4WtOOzN
— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) February 23, 2023
Roma started aggressively as defender Roger Ibanez was booked inside the opening four minutes for hauling down Noah Okafor. Four minutes later, Dybala was unlucky to see his two back-to-back efforts denied by the visitoring goalkeeper and the crossbar. Lorenzo Pellegrini tested Philip Kohn with a 31st-minute strike from outside the box, before Belotti opened the scoring two minutes later. Wing-back Leonardo Spinazzola made a darting run down the left-flank before delivering a deflected cross for Belotti to somehow head home from an awkward position. The goal made it 1-1 on aggregate with everything to play for.
Spinazzola was simply unstoppable down the left flank as the 29-year-old once again made a marauding run ro set up Dybala, who slotted home with a fine first-time volley. On the hour-mark, Cristante tested Kohn from outside the box. It was a dominant performance from Mourinho’s side as Salzburg failed to test the home goal-keeper Rui Patricio. Meanwhile, Roma is now unbeaten in its last 14 games in the knockout stages of major European competitions excluding qualifiers. The draw for the round of 16 will be held on Friday.
Great team performance. Our journey continues 🔥 On to the round of 16 #UEL @EuropaLeague 💪🏾
🟨 DAJE ROMA DAJE 🟥 pic.twitter.com/na7DFOT0oQ
— Gini Wijnaldum (@GWijnaldum) February 23, 2023
Mourinho applauded his men for an organised performance. “Tonight we saw a beautiful Roma achieve an important result,” the 60-year-old tactician told Sky Sport after the game. “It was a complete performance. We played as a group, with empathy and solidarity. I liked everything about tonight, but I can’t help but say that my staff did a fantastic job. We coaches are the end product of a lot of people’s work. My guys, the analysts, did a great job to help me prepare the team as best as possible.”
Vedere mio padre a 80 anni con gli occhi lucidi ed emozionato come un bambino…..
🟨 Grazie Roma!🟥#ROMAsalisburgo #Romasalzburg pic.twitter.com/emg5cQeo11— Bizio Quadraro! (@urbelab) February 24, 2023
Can we talk again, on how good this man Gianluca Mancini has been in 2023. Another brilliant performance again tonight. He hasn’t put a foot wrong this year so far, long may it continue #RomaSalzburg #AsRoma pic.twitter.com/ql6qeb27OZ
— Scot Munroe (@scot_munroe) February 23, 2023
José Mourinho managed 26 European matches during his time at Porto [UEL+UCL]. He wasn’t eliminated once and won both finals.
José Mourinho has now managed 23 European matches at Roma [UECL+UEL]. He is still yet to be eliminated. pic.twitter.com/3ryFZZvdZM
— IM🇵🇹 (@Iconic_Mourinho) February 23, 2023
