Goals by Romelu Lukaku and Lorenzo Pellegrini on Sunday helped AS Roma to a 2-0 win over promoted visitors Frosinone in Serie A, relieving the pressure on manager Jose Mourinho.
Lukaku deftly changed direction to evade his marker and fire home to give the hosts a 21st-minute lead.
Frosinone, who had lost one of their previous 17 away matches, pushed for an equalizer, but Roma captain Pellegrini extinguished their hopes with a perfectly timed volley from a free-kick seven minutes from the end.
Photo: AFP
Midfielder Paulo Dybala was instrumental in both goals, providing a pass to set up Lukaku and delivering a precise set-piece to Pellegrini for the second.
Roma jumped to 12th place with eight points from seven matches after their second league win of the season. Frosinone are 10th with nine points.
The result ended a disappointing run for Mourinho’s side, who had suffered a 4-1 defeat by Genoa on Thursday last week, leaving them hovering just above the relegation zone.
After Sunday’s match, Mourinho praised the visitors.
“It was a real team, and that’s something I always like, against a side that has nothing to do with Serie B,” he told DAZN.
“Frosinone have a lot of quality, I liked them when analyzing them in the buildup and I liked them today,” he said.
For Mourinho the win was a relief after he said on Thursday that he was enduring his worst start to a season as a manager.
“I am very, very happy that they won the game, because when you lose the way we did in midweek it is not easy. You must be emotionally balanced and have the right mentality to get on that pitch,” he said. “Having said that, we never felt that the fans were against the team. The support when we were on the bus and in the stadium was extraordinary. I knew that whether we won or not today, we would show that we are friends, we are a team, we are united.”
The match at the Stadio Olimpico was an intense affair on a humid Rome night, with signs of fatigue evident. The referee had to stop the game for a few minutes after experiencing cramp near the end, resulting in nine minutes of stoppage-time.
Elsewhere, Bologna beat Empoli 3-0, Udinese and Genoa drew 2-2 and Atlanta BC were held 0-0 by Juventus.
Additional reporting by staff writer
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
RSS