AS Roma achieved a stunning 2-1 home win against Lecce in Serie A on Sunday thanks to goals scored in stoppage time by Sardar Azmoun and Romelu Lukaku. This is the team’s fourth win from their first five games in the league, which has allowed them to close the distance to the top four to only four points.
Pontus Almqvist, a forward for Lecce, scored a goal for the away team in the 72nd minute to give them the lead. Roma’s Azmoun then scored a goal for his team with a strong header, but Lukaku scored the winning goal with his left foot to put the game out of reach.
Following Thursday’s game against Slavia Prague in the Europa League, Roma will meet Lazio in their next derby match on November 12. Roma have climbed up to seventh place in the rankings with 17 points after playing in 11 games.
They are 11 points behind the leaders, Inter Milan, and are now in fifth place, which is four points behind winners Napoli. Lecce is currently in 11th place with 13 points.
Lukaku, the striker for Belgium, had a chance to give Mourinho’s team the lead early on from the penalty spot, but he missed the opportunity. They were awarded the penalty kick after a shot by Paulo Dybala struck Federico Baschirotto’s hand, and it was Lukaku who missed the opportunity.
But Wladimiro Falcone, the goalkeeper for Lecce, made a diving save to deny a low shot from Lukaku that was aimed toward the middle of the net in the fifth minute.
After converting a penalty kick in each of his previous 14 efforts in Serie A while playing for Inter and Roma, the 30-year-old experienced his first failure in that competition.
After 30 minutes of play, Dybala, who had missed the previous month with a knee injury, made his comeback to the starting lineup for Roma but came up just short of scoring a goal. In the first half, Roma had more control of the ball and was the better team, but they were unable to capitalize on their advantages.
They had a scare in the 54th minute when Marin Pongracic sprinted past the defense and into the box to attempt to score from close range, but goalkeeper Rui Patricio was quick and collected the ball. They were able to survive the danger.
However, it was Almqvist who gave Lecce the lead when he pounced on a ball inside the penalty area and blasted a low shot that was pinpoint accurate into the bottom-left corner of the goal.
However, Mourinho’s team continued to press for an equalizer, and substitute Azmoun thundered in a header in the first minute of stoppage time, before Lukaku sealed the win with a close-range strike into the far top corner little over two minutes later. Dybala’s attempt went over the bar 11 minutes before the game’s end.
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