Roma-Athletic Club 1-1: the Giallorossi fortress falls in the final, a draw on Juric's debut

Rome 26 September 2024 – He fails to Juric to mark his debut on the bench in Europe with a success. Rome draws in European debut againstAthletic Club of Bilbao for 1-1, after having led in the score for a large part of the match: thanks to the advantage found by dovbyk in the first half; however, the Giallorossi fortress fell in the last five minutes of the match, thanks to the goal of Paredes, on the perfect shore of Nuñez to re-equalize the score. The stakes at stake were divided into two in this first day of Europe League between the two teams, one point each to start this phase of the championship of the second European competition.

First half

For his coaching debut in Europe, Juric choose Silker between the posts, defended by the three-man line composed of N'Dicak in the center, supported by Mancini on the right ed Beautiful on the left. In midfield he is confirmed Crystalline, at his side Koné, while on the lanes it is confirmed Steel on the right, with Angelino to the left. Dybala e Baldanzi to give imagination and support behind dovbyk. The answer of Valverde is entrusted to his 4-2-3-1, with Agirrezabala in goal, Gorosabel, Paredes, Live e Berchiche to compose the rear line. Prados is flanked by Galarreta Ruiz , while on the trocar Inaki Williams occupies the right lane, Boy he sides with the left, Gomez in the center behind guruzeta, sole tip.

In the first minutes of the game the Spanish team, the boys of Juric instead they study the opponents' disposition, always doing a good job in the coverage phase with a lot of sacrifice work on the preventives. Ten minutes of very blocked play and then theAthletic try to trigger the speed of Iñaki Williams kicking the ball in depth, but the Spaniard's stop and shot in the eleventh minute of the first half, does not find the goal. More dangerous is the attempt by Paredes, on the developments from a corner, but his header also goes high and wide.

La Rome begins to emerge over the distance, improving his pressing phase and starting from the middle of the first half to consistently recover the ball in the opponent's half of the field. The two attempts of dovbyk before and Dybala then around the 20th minute there are just a taste of what will happen in the following minutes. Baldanzi e Angelino gradually become more and more protagonists, between the excellent runs of the first and the insertions of the second always capable of finding space between the Basques' shirts. A high recovery by the former Empoli, later perfected by Koné e Dybala starts the action of the Roman goal. After the break in midfield in fact the Argentine opens up just for Angelino, who takes aim and crosses perfectly onto the head of dovbyk, good at not ending up offside, then at placing the ball in the goal behind Agirrezabala. Minute 32 the Rome is ahead at the Olimpico, third seasonal goal of the Ukrainian striker and 1-0 at the Olimpico for the Capitoline team.

With the home team taking the lead, the visitors tried to react, but the Giallorossi defence held up well until the final minutes of the first half. Only on the last action Koné gets lost Gorosabel, causing a free kick on the edge of the area, with a yellow card for the midfielder Rome, however, no problem on the joke for Silker. On that occasion, he was also cautioned. Gorosabel for protests, who in fact asked for a penalty. The advantage of the capital therefore held until the double whistle of Kabakov, which sends the teams to the break with the Italian team leading 1-0, thanks to the goal by dovbyk.

Second half

The first change of the match is made at half-time Juric: Dybala he doesn't come out of the locker room, in his place it's time for SouléThe visiting team tries to change the outcome of their match by raising their centre of gravity, also creating the first chance of the second half, but the attempt to Gomez from the limit does not commit Silker, who blocks the ball on the ground. The first attempt by the Giallorossi is definitely more interesting. Soulé in fact he takes advantage of the slip-up of Paredes and he launches himself in front of Agirrezabala, but his diagonal shot is well blocked by the Basque goalkeeper Bilbao. In the 56th minute, the first yellow card of the second half also arrives: Berchiche ends up in the referee's bad guy notebook, for the harsh intervention against Koné.

The match enters its final third and Valverde drops his joker from his hand: enters Nico Williams, together with Ander Herrera, they leave the field instead Boy e PradosTwo minutes later a substitution is also played Juric, say hello to the field Baldanzi, warned in the preceding moment, enters in his place pisilliThe visiting team grows and tries to push harder, from the bench they sense the possibility of a draw and then they also play their cards From Marcos e Berenguer to replace Gorosabel e Gomez. Prompt response Juric substitute Steel, who accuses a physical problem, with Saud abdulhamid, the first Saudi ever to wear the Giallorossi shirt, as the match enters its final 20 minutes of play, plus injury time. 

He suffers a lot from the Rome, long crushed in their last meters, but when it comes to making the difference in the last twenty meters of the field, many errors by theAthletic and equally excellent interventions by the defenders in yellow and red. A fortuitous clash in the area between Vivian e Saud, which the Spanish centre-back has the worst of, forced to do so Valverde to play the fifth substitution, in his place comes on Nuñez; a few moments later too Juric he plays his last two substitutions, the time comes for Paredes e Shomurodov, to give breath to Koné e dovbyk, in an attempt to lift the Roman centre of gravity. An immediately effective entrance by the Uzbek, good on a counterattack to suffer the foul that deserves a yellow card from From Marcos.

These changes, however, do not reduce the suffering of the Rome, whose fortress falls in the 85th minute. On the free kick from the left, taken by Berenguer in fact the perfect shore arrives Nuñez on the second post, for the central insertion of Paredes, who heads the ball where Silker cannot reach the far post. The match at the Olimpico returns to a draw with the score at 1-1 with five minutes left in the match. The Giallorossi thus seek an immediate reaction of pride to the goal conceded: he tries Beautiful with a header following a corner, but his headed ball ends up in the hands of Agirrezabala. In the recovery minutes however there were no chances for the two teams and the match after six minutes of extra time ended with the score 1-1 thanks to the goals of dovbyk e Paredes.