Roman Wolves Record Their First Victory in Group E of UEFA Europa League

The Bulgarian vice champion CSKA lost 2-0 against Roma in the second round of UEFA Europa League at Stadio Olimpico in front of 22,000 spectators. Despite the much more effective 4-4-2 formation of Roma, the Bulgarians, with their 4-5-1, provided a serious challenge during the match.

At the beginning of the first half, the Wolves were the first to act, in spite of the absence of their club's captain Francesco Totti.  They created the first dangerous situation when Okaka Chuka broke quickly and released a thunderous shot which, however, passed inches away from the goalpost.

In the fifth minute, Perrotta was left alone by the Bulgarian defenders, but he blew the chance to score a goal. Seven minutes later, the incessant attacks of Roma were finally rewarded.

Immediately after the player of CSKA Kostadin Stoyanov lost the ball on the wing, Roma created a counter attack with lightening speed—Marco Motta found Okaka who, left alone against the goalkeeper Karadzhov, opened the scoring.

The Wolves from Rome did not sate their hunger with only one goal and eventually won over CSKA when Perrotta received a pass from Pizarro and found himself alone in front of the defenders clad in red. With a strong shot, with the inside of his foot, he scored the second, crucial, goal of the match.

In the 27th minute, the reds from Bulgaria had the chance to come back in the match after Ivan Stoyanov was left alone in front of the Brazilian goalkeeper Julio Sergio ,but the ball was saved by Riise.

In the second half, both teams played a relatively balanced game. The head coach of CSKA, Luboslav Penev, let the young Delev and Platini play. The reserves lifted up the Bulgarian team's tempo of play and CSKA started to play more aggressively.

As a result of it, in the 55th minute, Yordan Todorov outrun the Italian defense but didn’t manage to shoot inside the goal’s outlines and lay. In the 68th minute, Roma had an opportunity to win with a "classic" result (3-0), but Alesio Cerci failed to score the third goal.

Notwithstanding the great efforts and motivation during the second part of the game, CSKA did not achieve to create something valuable and Roma took 2-0 victory over the Bulgarian team.

After two played matches, one point won, and a goal difference of 1-3, “The Army Men” (CSKA) hold the last fourth position in their Group E. Roma are third, while Basel are second one, whereas the temporary leader is the English team Fulham.