AS Roma secured participation in the Europa League on Sunday evening on the final day of Serie A. The team of coach José Mourinho crawled through the eye of the needle in the home game against Spezia by using a penalty kick in the final minute. Juventus also won, but no longer had a Europa League ticket in their own hands. The superpower from Turin has been sentenced to the Conference League. Hellas Verona has been relegated by a 3-1 defeat at AC Milan.
AS Roma – Spezia 2-1
AS Roma and Spezia still had enough to play for on the final day of Serie A. The home side needed to win to keep their participation in the Europa League in their own hands, while Spezia had to keep Hellas Verona behind in the fight against relegation. The score was opened by Spezia after five minutes of play. An indirect free kick could be headed in at the far post by Dimitris Nikolaou via a number of detours. It took until two minutes before the break before AS Roma did something in return. Nicola Zalewski suddenly turned a cross from the left into the goal.
Roma level the score again ?? The Romans are still playing for a Europa League ticket, just like Juventus. Virtually is that ticket now for Roma (61 points) and not for Juve (60 points) ???#ZiggoSport #SerieA #ROMSPE pic.twitter.com/xTmXgMn0Re
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) June 4, 2023
When the game then seemed to be heading for a 1-1 draw, Roma crawled through the eye of the needle in the final minute. Stephan El Shaarawy was beaten by two defenders. Referee Fabio Maresca thought it was enough for a penalty kick. Jeroen Zoet, who was allowed to keep goalkeeper for the first time in a long time, went into the right corner but was unable to save Dybala’s penalty kick. In the remainder of the game, the Romans managed to hold their own, making a ticket for the Europa League a fact.
AC Milan – Hellas Verona 3-1
Hellas Verona knew it had to win at AC Milan and even then it depended on the result at Roma – Spezia. However, the team of trainer Marco Zaffaroni fell behind just before half-time due to a used penalty kick from Olivier Giroud. The Frenchman was allowed to moor from eleven meters and hit the left intersection flawlessly. Fifteen minutes before the end, Davide Faraoni did something back on behalf of the visitors by heading up close on a pass from Darko Lazovic, but it didn’t get any further than that. When Milan struck twice more in the absolute final phase via Rafael Leão, it was sealed apart from Hellas.
Udinese – Juventus 0-1
Due to the ten-point deduction that Juventus received because of the accounting scandal, a Europa League ticket was the highest achievable prior to a win. La Vecchia Signora did not put together a cartload of chances, but was the better team against Udinese. In the first half, Leonardo Bonucci hit the crossbar with a header. Federico Chiesa had more luck with his effort in the 68th minute. The attacker was given time to take the lead in the penalty area and calmly explored the far bottom corner: 0-1.