A youthful Roma side was unable to avoid defeat in Bulgaria on Thursday evening; going down to a 3-1 defeat against CSKA Sofia. Pedro played the full game, the last fixture of the group A and his next european performance will be in the knockout stage.
With Group A already won and qualification for the knockout stages of the competition long since assured, coach Paulo Fonseca named a youthful side for the game - with Primavera trio Pietro Boer, Tommaso Milanese and Mory Bamba all making their full debuts for the team.
And it was Milanese who produced the most notable moment from a Giallorossi perspective, as he fired home after clever work from Borja Mayoral to score his first professional goal for the club.
It was the home side who had the last laugh, however. After Tiago Rodrigues gave CSKA an early lead, two smart finishes from Ali Sowe proved enough for the Bulgarian side to get their first win of the group stage at the last opportunity.
Other positives for Fonseca were scarce - although both Chris Smalling and Marash Kumbulla got through 45 minutes of action, as other senior players rested at home.
The draw for the last-32 of the Europa League takes place on Monday afternoon. Prior to that, Roma are back in Serie A action - they travel to face Bologna on Sunday afternoon.
- Match stats:
CSKA Sofia): Busatto; Antov, Mattheij, Zanev; Yomov, Youga (30’ st Galabov), Geferson, Mazikou; Tiago Rodrigues (37’ st Henrique); Sowe (30’ st Ahmedov), Sankhare
AS Roma: Boer; Fazio, Kumbulla (46’ Smalling), Juan Jesus; Bruno Peres (82’ Tripi), Milanese (63’ Villar), Diawara, Bamba (63’ Karsdorp); Carles Perez, Pedro; Borja Mayoral
Bookings: Peljito (Bosnia) booked Tripi (83’), Antov (89’).
Goals: Tiago Rodrigues (6’), Milanese (22’), Sowe (34’), Sowe (55’).
- Match report by asroma.com
|
4 - 1 
