Mourinho in dreamland as Roma destroy Servette with second-half blitz

Roma earn much needed win in Europa League | Imago

Mourinho in dreamland as Roma destroy Servette with second-half blitz

Ayoola Kelechi 22:12 - 05.10.2023

Jose Mourinho guided his Roma side to an emphatic win over European minnows Servette to make it two wins from two in the Europa League

AS Roma secured their second consecutive win after demolishing Swiss side Servette 4-0 in their UEFA Europa League clash on Thursday. 

The Gialorossi and their Portuguese manager had come under some scrutiny in recent weeks after a string of poor results, but finally look to have turned the tide with a convincing win to reach second place in their UEL Group behind only Slavia Prague. 

A brace from Italian forward Andrea Bellotti, as well as goals from Romelu Lukaku and Lorenzo Pellegrini, were enough to make it six points out of a possible six for the Italian side. 

How it happened

Roma were pre-game favourites and showed exactly why, dominating the opening proceedings, before finally taking the lead midway through the first half when Lukaku gave the Gialorossi the lead with a fine finish from quite close to the penalty spot. 

var widgetLoaderConfig = widgetLoaderConfig || { CDN_URL: 'https://widgets.sportal365.com', APP_LINK: 'desktop', API_URL: 'https://africa.football.api.sportal365.com/', API_KEY: '2f852b4de2f3a5cf3188e74b33087bb4:2c18422f8e826a7d11aeed52edb2449e', LANG: 'en', REQUEST_INTERVAL: 30, ENABLE_BET_SLIP: false, AUTHOR: false, THEME: "light", TOURNAMENT_ORDER: "pulse_nigeria", LINK_OPTIONS_V2: { 'player' : { 'url': '/football/player/{playerId}' }, 'team' : { 'url': '/football/{teamId}' }, 'tournament': { 'url': '/football/competition/{tournamentId}' }, 'match': { 'url' : '/football/match/{matchId}', 'sort': { 'criteria': 'alphabetically', 'direction': 'asc' } }, 'configuration': { 'newWindow': false }, 'standings_tournament': { 'url': '/football/competition/{tournamentId}/standings' } } }; if (!document.querySelector('script[src="https://widgets.sportal365.com/loader.bundle.min.js"]')) { window.setTimeout(function () { let scriptCss = document.createElement('link'); scriptCss.href = 'https://www.pulsesports.ug/css/sport-widgets.css?v=1668785443'; scriptCss.rel = 'stylesheet'; scriptCss.type = 'text/css'; document.body.appendChild(scriptCss); let scriptTag = document.createElement('script'); scriptTag.src = 'https://widgets.sportal365.com/loader.bundle.min.js'; scriptTag.defer = true; scriptTag.onload = function () { window.setTimeout(function () { new SMPWidgetsLoader(widgetLoaderConfig); }, 200); }; document.head.appendChild(scriptTag); }, 0); } else { new SMPWidgetsLoader(widgetLoaderConfig); }

Servette did well to keep Roma at bay for the rest of the first half, but faced a brutal onslaught in the second half, surrendering goals as fast as they could get the ball to the centre circle to restart the game each time. 

After the break, it took Roma less than one minute to double their lead through Bellotti, who finished brilliantly on his weaker foot to make it 2-0 to the hosts. 

Roma went 3-0 up within the blink of an eye as substitute Pellegrini found space on the edge of the box to hit a low drive into the bottom corner. 

Unfortunately for Roma, Pellegrini, who came on for Houssem Aouar, had to replaced himself after suffering an injury shortly after scoring. 

That barely damped Roma’s appetite as they were 4-0 ahead before the hour mark, with Bellotti rising highest to turn in a corner and secure all three points for his side. 

The Gialorossi are now second in Group G of the UEFA Europa League, behind Slavia Prague only on goal difference ahead of a double header between both clubs. 

 

Related content