Thursday, September 15, 2022 at 10:56 PM• Jonathan van Haaster • Last update: 23:03

AS Roma have made up for their false start in the Europa League with a win over HJK Helsinki. In its own Stadio Olimpico it was 3-0 by goals from Paulo Dybala, Lorenzo Pellegrini and Andrea Belotti. After 15 minutes of play, Helsinki’s Miro Tenho was shown red, meaning the Finns had nothing to do but stop the game.

Roma coach José Mourinho had a starting place in store for Rick Karsdorp. A boost for the Dutchman, who saw Zeki Çelik preferred as right wing defender in previous games. The Portuguese coach had star player Dybala start on the bench, but nevertheless put together a strong team including Leonardo Spinazzola, Belotti and Nicolò Zaniolo. At Helsinki, ex-Heerenveen defender Jukka Raitala had a base place.

Roma was the dominant side from the start and got an early chance through Zaniolo. However, the Italian saw his shot go wide of the Finnish goal. After fifteen minutes, the chances of a result for Helsinki seemed to be seriously diminishing. Tenho tripped Belotti and because he was the last defender, the Finn was shown a red card after VAR interference. Still, in the phase after that, Roma had difficulties in creating opportunities and after half an hour of play they got away well, when Arttu Hoskonen aimed his header at the right post. Zaniolo had the chance to open the score five minutes before half-time, but the creative saw his poor effort turned by goalkeeper Conor Hazard.

Paulo Dybala has been on the field for less than 2 minutes and has already scored ???? pic.twitter.com/P5EYUN5BYk

— ESPN NL (@ESPNnl) September 15, 2022

Mourinho saw that his team needed an attacking impulse and therefore brought Dybala inside the lines. The Argentinian was immediately decisive less than three minutes after his substitute. On a pass from Pellegrini, Dybala managed to find the far corner with his left foot: 1-0. The spell was broken and less than two minutes later it was Pellegrini himself who managed to score. Zaniolo broke through the left side of the field, had a nice feint and managed to find Pellegrini, who worked the ball through the ball. Belotti made it 3-0 in the 68th minute. The striker, who had come over from Torino, was in front of the goal after a cross from Zaniolo and was then able to easily tap in. Both teams thought it was enough in the future, so that Roma now has three points.