UEL | Roma 2-1 Milan: Gladiatorial Giallorossi

Milan were unlucky not to equalise on the night when Ruben Loftus-Cheek hit a shot into the ground that bounced up and onto the crossbar.

Moments later, Roma scored instead, as Romelu Lukaku battled to keep the ball, shake off defenders and his cross was cleared by Matteo Gabbia, but only as far as Dybala to curl left-footed into the far bottom corner.

However, Lukaku was forced to limp off with a knee injury after 29 minutes, but the game turned again moments later when the referee opted for a rather harsh straight red card as Zeki Celik dived into the sliding tackle on Rafael Leao, reducing Roma to 10 men.

Milan had to pour forward and Loftus-Cheek’s diving header was charged down by Mancini’s back in the six-yard box. There were also penalty appeals for a Chris Smalling handling offence on a corner, but VAR showed Olivier Giroud handled first.

Christian Pulisic fired over and Musah’s attempt was charged down, but Stefano Pioli made radical changes at half-time. Samuel Chukwueze rolled across for Luka Jovic, the deflected finish favouring Svilar, while Pulisic barged Svilar and ball into the box with a foul.

Mike Maignan was tested when Leonardo Spinazzola sprung the offside trap, while Tammy Abraham fired over after an initial effort was charged down.

Abraham was struggling in the closing stages with a shoulder injury, while Lorenzo Pellegrini made a decisive sliding block to stop Chukwueze tapping in the Leao pull-back.

Svilar fingertipped a Reijnders scorcher over the bar from the edge of the area and on the resulting corner, Matteo Gabbia nodded in for Milan’s first goal of the tie.

There was more controversy, as Marciniak first showed the red card to Theo Hernandez for clipping El Shaarawy’s heels, then changed it to a yellow following a brief VAR review.

Roma 2-1 Milan (3-1 agg)

Mancini 12 (R), Dybala 22 (R), Gabbia 86 (M)

Sent off: Celik 31 (R)

18-04-2024 20:00 1/4 Final Stadio Olimpico

Roma

Milan 2 - 1

Player statistic

1st half

Gianluca Mancini		12'
Paulo Dybala		22'
Zeki Celik

31'     2nd half

		46'		Matteo Gabbia
		77'		Luka Jovic
		85'

Matteo Gabbia (Assist: Rafael Leão)     89' Fikayo Tomori     90+3' Theo Hernández     90+3' Yacine Adli     90+3'

Davide Calabria

Match statistic

36 Possession % 64 6 Total shots 20 3 Shots on target 4 3 Shots off target 6 0 Blocked shots 10 0 Corners 11 0 Offsides 1 5 Fouls 20 Roma Milan

Starting lineups

99

Mile Svilar Goalkeeper 6

Chris Smalling Defender 23

Gianluca Mancini Defender 37

Leonardo Spinazzola Defender 19

Zeki Celik Defender 52 Edoardo Bove Midfielder 82' 16

Leandro Paredes Midfielder 7

Lorenzo Pellegrini Midfielder 82' 21

Paulo Dybala Attacker 43' 90

Romelu Lukaku Attacker 28' 92

Stephan El Shaarawy Attacker 16

Mike Maignan Goalkeeper 2

Davide Calabria Defender 46' 23

Fikayo Tomori Defender 46

Matteo Gabbia Defender 19

Theo Hernández Defender 4

Ismaël Bennacer Midfielder 40' 8

Ruben Loftus-Cheek Midfielder 46' 80

Yunus Musah Midfielder 69' 11

Christian Pulisic Attacker

69' 9

Olivier Giroud Attacker 10

Rafael Leão Attacker

Substitutes

1

Rui Patrício Goalkeeper 2

Rick Karsdorp Defender 63 Pietro Boer Goalkeeper 59

Nicola Zalewski Midfielder 35 Tommaso Baldanzi Midfielder 22

Houssem Aouar Midfielder 17

Sardar Azmoun Attacker 67 João Costa Attacker 9

Tammy Abraham Attacker 28' 14

Diego Llorente Defender 43' 69

Angeliño Defender 82' 20

Renato Sanches Midfielder 82' 69 Lapo Nava Goalkeeper 57

Marco Sportiello Goalkeeper 38 Filippo Terracciano Midfielder 7

Yacine Adli Midfielder 28 Malick Thiaw Defender 85 Kevin Zeroli Midfielder 95

Davide Bartesaghi Defender 15

Luka Jovic Attacker 40' 21

Samuel Chukwueze Attacker 46' 14

Tijjani Reijnders Midfielder 46' 42

Alessandro Florenzi Defender 69' 17

Noah Okafor Attacker

69'