Mats Wieffer’s long-range volley gave Feyenoord a 1-0 advantage after their UEFA Europa League quarter-final first leg, edging to victory against a Roma side who lost key players to injury and twice hit the woodwork from Lorenzo Pellegrini’s penalty and Roger Ibañez’s deflected header.
These sides were separated by the only goal of last season’s inaugural UEFA Europa Conference League final, and a tight, tense encounter developed again during the early stages at a boisterous De Kuip, where the unfortunate Paulo Dybala was forced off with an early injury for the visitors.
Neither goalkeeper was troubled until Feyenoord’s Mats Wieffer was adjudged to have conceded a penalty two minutes before the break. Lorenzo Pellegrini fired his spot kick beyond the dive of Justin Bijlow and against the goalkeeper’s right-hand post, the ball bouncing away to home relief.
Pellegrini was replaced by former Feyenoord midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum at the break, but it was the home side who took the lead within ten minutes of the restart. Wieffer drilled a volley from distance past Rui Patrício, the chance created by Oussama Idrissi’s electric run.
Fortune was not kind to Roma, who lost Tammy Abraham to a shoulder injury before hitting the woodwork again when Roger Ibañez’s header was diverted against the underside of the bar and out by Idrissi. Feyenoord exacted a measure of revenge from last season’s disappointment, yet Roma will feel more twists await in this tie.
Reaction
Arne Slot, Feyenoord coach: “We experienced the strength of Roma today – especially during the last 20 minutes. They will be supported in their own stadium by 70,000 people in the second leg. The atmosphere in our stadium tonight was great. The fans really supported us a lot.”
Mats Wieffer, Feyenoord midfielder: “It’s unbelievable. I really dreamed of this. It’s really special for me, and I’m really happy to score. Things are going very fast for me at the moment. The coach said during the break that we’d played well, but that we should switch sides more often. That would create opportunities to go with the wingers and for our full-backs to overlap. The first 15 minutes of the second half were a bit better, but we dropped off after we scored.”
José Mourinho, Roma coach: “The boys made a lot of effort and sacrifice. We had the opportunity for a different result, but this is the reality. We lost the first leg 1-0. We have difficulties and we don’t have the capacity to rotate the squad much. We’ll probably lose Abraham and Dybala for the next two games. We are who we are, and we will have the Olimpico for the second leg.”
Gianluca Mancini, Roma defender: “You must have personality to stand on the penalty spot and Pellegrini has it. He hit the post today, but he has scored a lot, too. You can miss penalties. The match was hard fought. In the first 12 minutes of the second half, Feyenoord put us under pressure, but after that we controlled the game.”
Nicola Zalewski, Roma defender: “We played a good game from all points of view. These matches are decided on fine margins and today there were two: the missed penalty and their goal. We are good at bouncing back from these defeats. We know how strong we are; we can go all the way in this competition.”
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