Roma Moves to Next Round After Win Over Feyenoord
Feyenoord fans marred Roma's victory over the Dutch club as the match was briefly suspended for objects thrown on the field.
GOAL
Roma booked their place in the Europa League Round of 16 with a 2-1 second-leg win over Feyenoord, whose fans’ shameful behaviour once again marred the occasion.
Following fan trouble in Rome before the first-leg, the referee was forced to direct the players into the dressing rooms after further misconduct from the crowd in the second period after the dismissal of Mitchell te Vrede sparked a vicious reaction from the supporters.
On the pitch, goals from Adem Ljajic and Gervinho either side of an Elvis Manu effort were enough to put the Giallorossi into an unassailable lead that wrapped up a 3-2 aggregate triumph.
With rain pelting down over De Kuip, it was perhaps not a surprise to see chances at a premium as both teams adjusted to the conditions on hand.
Francesco Totti tried to get Roma on the board with an ambitious chip from long range but he narrowly missed the target with Kenneth Vermeer struggling to get back on his line.
Miralem Pjanic’s giveaway saw Karim El Ahmadi pounce and test Lukasz Skorupski, but Totti would go the closest with a designed free-kick that rebounded off the post.
The game was paused shortly before half-time as stewards had to remove an inflatable banana that was thrown onto the touchline – and Rudi Garcia’s enraged reaction was an indication of the incident’s malicious overtones.
It got even worse in the second half after Mitchell Te Vrede was sent off for a challenge on Manolas, which kicked the fans into even more depravity. The referee had no choice but to halt the match and lead the players down the tunnel.
Uefa opted to continue the match after a quarter-hour delay, and Manu, fresh off the bench, split the centre-backs to finish off an opportunistic Feyenoord attack.
Erwin Mulder was sent off from the home side’s bench for his reactions to the goal and it got worse for them moments later when Vasilis Torosidis squared for Gervinho to sweep home on the hour mark.
Though Manu’s movement was an occasional threat up front, Roma eventually made their man advantage count, and forced Feyenoord to chase them in possession during the closing stages.