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- Roma Held to Another Draw After Feyenoord Cancel Out Gervinho's Strike
Roma Held to Another Draw After Feyenoord Cancel Out Gervinho's Strike
Gervinho's clever first half score gave Roma a favorable advantage until Feyenoord's Colin Kazin-Richards canceled out the lead.
GOAL
Roma were held to another draw on Thursday as Colin Kazim-Richards cancelled out Gervinho's strike in the first leg of their Europa League clash with Feyenoord.
A clever finish from Gervinho gave the Giallorossi the lead in the first half, despite the visitors seeing more of the ball, but they were pegged back after the interval as Kazim-Richards netted a potentially huge away goal for the Dutch outfit.
The build-up to the game was marred by violence and clashes between sections of the Feyenoord support and local police, and Roma moved quickly to make football the talking point in the first half.
Francesco Totti released Daniele Verde down the right with a fantastic pass after seven minutes, but Gervinho showed a lack of conviction as he fired wide from the youngster’s cross under pressure from Luke Wilkshire.
However, Gervinho did not make the same mistake when the next opportunity came his way as he added a neat finish to Vasilis Torosidis' cross with 22 minutes on the clock.
The Dutch side controlled possession for long periods throughout the first half but they lacked penetration, with Lukasz Skorupski only forced into one routine save from Kazim-Richards.
The second half began in the same vein, but within 10 minutes of the restart Feyenoord got their goal.
Skorupski did superbly to turn Lex Immers’ header onto the post, but Kazim-Richards was on hand to tap home on the rebound, though replays suggest he did so from an offside position.
Rudi Garcia introduced Seydou Doumbia as he encouraged his side to look for another goal, but, when chances fell the way of the former CSKA Moscow man, he was unable to make them count.
A brilliant challenge from Khalid Boulahrouz denied him in the 85th minute, and, from the resultant corner, he failed to add a simple finish to Seydou Keita's knockdown.
There was to be no late winner, leaving the tie delicately balanced ahead of Roma's visit to the intimidating De Kuip for the second leg next week.