Shakhtar-Roma 1-2: Mayoral and Giallorossi double in the quarterfinals of the Europa League

We needed the man with the glass and a tip like a Swiss watch Borja Mayoral showed up for the appointment with history. Yes, because with his double the Spanish gives Roma a victory (2-1) that allows them to reach the quarterfinals, a goal never reached since the Europa League exists, while if we also take into account the old Cup from Uefa, we have to go back to 1998/99, when Roma was eliminated by Atlético de Madrid with Zdenek Zeman.

But the double in Kiev against Shakhtar Donetsk is historic for Mayoral also because it leads him to 13 goals this season, a goal never before achieved by the Spanish striker.

Few emotions

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Shakhtar have three goals to recover, but it seems they hardly noticed. The maneuver is slow, predictable, sometimes almost scholarly. Little or no move, came some sporadic personal initiative from Solomon – the best of his – that many times puts Ibáñez in trouble (notified almost immediately).

Fonseca’s game plan tends not to give the Ukrainian attack depth, wanting to try to do damage in spaces, with restarts. Thus was born the first opportunity, in the 6 ‘, when Mayoral can immediately close the games but kicks high. Shakhtar’s reaction is on a couple of Alan Patrick’s initiatives, but nothing momentous. Also because the Giallorossi leave possession of the ball to Castro’s team, which never finds the space to try to build something decent. So it is Roma that has the best chances, first with Spinazzola who kicks high from the corner of the penalty area and then with Mayoral anticipated in the barter for a desperate exit from Trubin. In the middle a nice header from Junior Morais, but it ended up on the right of Pau López. He goes into halftime at 0-0, with Roma blessing the result by virtue of the 3-0 first leg.

Super borja

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In the second half, Fonseca immediately trades Ibáñez for Mancini, but for Castro it is fine. And in the 3 ‘, Roma mortgaged the classification with a goal from Borja Mayoral, who headed a short block from Krystov at the initiative of Karsdorp. And at 10 ‘Pedro is also 2-0, but in the race, from the penalty spot, he serves sensationally. Shakhtar seem to have felt the blow and for a time they limited themselves to a sterile dribble, until at 14 ‘in the first real lunge they found the same with Junior Morais (tap-in at the far post on an assist from Alan Patrick) . Then it’s Konoplyanka, who has just entered, to face Pau López from the outside. The feat, however, is titanic, scoring four more goals. In addition to a Roma positioned very well on the pitch, which also found the 2-1 in the 27 ‘: Pedro’s vertical ball for Carles Pérez, who jumps over Trubin and hands Borja Mayoral the ball of the new Giallorossi advantage. In the final Bruno Peres commits a naive penalty foul on Matviyenko (but Lahoz honors him), while Pau López overtakes Marlos from the edge. It ends like this, with Roma flying to the quarterfinals.