*Aston Villa Punch Above Weight, Crush Fenerbahce
*Liverpool In Away Rout
By José María Rodríguez, at Estadio Olimpico, and Lori Ewing, at Etihad Stadium
Real Madrid has an exceptional roster. This was evident in Rome, where the players underutilized by Mourinho turned around a major mess—a strategy of direct play without a midfield that allowed Roma to dominate.
The Setúbal coach’s former team took a 3-1 lead, with Vinicius particularly off his game, and the desperate substitutions worked a miracle. Arda Güler delivered three perfectly executed corner kicks that were converted by Espí, Endrick, and Rüdiger—three goals in seven minutes to secure the win and offer several lessons.
Soccer is played with midfielders, and when one player isn’t performing well, you have to make way for another who comes in hungry.
The uproar over Vinicius’s suspension and the controversy surrounding the referees took some of the spotlight away from the match in Rome, where Mourinho reaffirmed his status as ‘The Special One’ by lifting a European title -the inaugural edition of the European Conference League.
For this special occasion—given the opponent and the Champions League, the eternal love of the Whites —the coach was bolder than ever.
He started the BMV (Bellingham Mbappe Vinicius) alongside Diomande for the first time. Such joy comes at a price, so he benched Arda Güler and stuck with the Tchouaméni-Valverde duo in the midfield.
This dashed the hopes of many Real Madrid fans, who weren’t surprised by how the match at the Olimpico began. Roma, a team as daring as Gasperini’s Atalanta, exposed the Whites’ weaknesses.
Soulé had a chance 50 seconds in. Courtois made his first save at the 5-minute mark, stopping Mario Hermoso’s spectacular shot right next to the post.
Dybala fired Nahuel’s back pass wide; Nahuel is a left-footed wingback. And Wesley took advantage of a defensive lapse to break into the box and, of course, on the fifth attempt, the first goal went in.
After Tchouaméni lost the ball on a clearance, De Roon’s long-range shot caught Courtois off guard after deflecting off a defender. It was the logical culmination of a dreadful stretch of play—no threat, no flow, unable to string together more than three passes, lacking focus on defense, and with no plan other than long balls, preferably from Courtois.
Perhaps Mourinho, cheered on by the Roma fans, had it all planned out. It couldn’t be ruled out.
He did it before against Inter. But back then, he pressed and his team stayed compact with discipline.
In Rome, he did away with midfield play, any build-up, and any attempt to create chances, in favor of seeking the decisive counterattack.
Malen had a chance with a shot so hard it even startled Courtois, who was quick to prevent the goal. And on a loose ball, a long pass capitalized on Hermoso’s mistake, and Mbappé, on his first shot, scored the equalizer. The debate-ender.
Roma felt the impact of Real Madrid’s goal. They lost confidence in their full-field press and allowed Madrid to control the ball more.
They were also hampered by the early injury to Koné, their anchor. Diomande stepped up his involvement, both with and without the ball. What a sight. A winger helping out on defense.
It’s worth noting that the best chance before halftime came from a fullback playing as a winger, Cucurella, who capitalized on a mistake by Soulé and found himself one-on-one with Gollini. He finished it off with a mediocre right-footed shot.
And Vinicius? Out of sync. Slow. His best moment in the first half was the back pass, just before halftime, that Bellingham sent wide.
Vinicius’s abysmal performance seemed hard to top. In fact, Mourinho switched the wingers.
Meanwhile, Gasperini didn’t flinch and brought in Rodrigo Mora, the young Mexican talent, for the ineffective Dybala.
What happened was that Courtois came out low looking for Vini on the right, attempted a backheel with his back to goal, Roma stole the ball, Mora set up Malen, and he finished with a cross-goal shot.
Mourinho grew frustrated with Vini but kept him on the right. Madrid was in disarray, and Mora proved it once again.
He controlled the ball in the middle; they let him drive forward five meters, 10, 15, until he found the opening to set up Malen. The Dutchman scored, and VAR confirmed his offside position.
That’s when it really happened. With everything on the line, Mourinho pulled Vini and brought in Güler and Endrick first. Valverde moved to fullback.
Mbappé and Diomande came alive, stringing together a great play that was called off for a very close offside call. Then Bernardo came in, and Madrid started stringing together longer plays.
Finally, Carreras and Espí entered the game, and the miracle unfolded down the wings. Endrick cut inside—far more effectively than his predecessor in that position—forcing Roma to retreat and concede corner kicks.
That’s where Arda Güler’s left foot came into play, sparking three miraculous moments.
The first, from the right, was touched by Endrick and finished off by Espí. It was initially ruled offside, but it wasn’t.
The second was struck directly by Endrick, who has springs in his legs.
And the third, right at the end, in a tight spot, was finished off by Rüdiger in the six-yard box.
An unexpected victory that might just turn the season around. It is hoped that Mou doesn’t fall back into his old ways.
Man City Fail At Home, First Loss Of Season
Manchester City’s 4-2 defeat by Paris St Germain (PSG) told only part of the story of Enzo Maresca’s first loss as City boss, with his men staggering through the first half before roaring back after the break.
Playing their first home game since an independent commission found them guilty of 114 breaches of Premier League financial rules, City were staring at a rout when a rampant PSG raced into a 3-0 lead with a first-half masterclass.
Then City woke up.
Maresca’s side tore into the visitors after halftime, pouring forward with an intensity and urgency that had been entirely absent in the opening 45 minutes.
Erling Haaland spearheaded the fightback, scoring twice to become the fastest player to reach 60 Champions League goals, hitting the mark in just 60 games, 20 quicker than Lionel Messi.
City kept coming. They finished with nearly twice as many shots as PSG and around three times as many touches in the opposition box, while recording a higher expected-goals figure at both halftime and fulltime. PSG, though, were more ruthless.
“I think we start quite good until the first goal (from Desire Doue in the 13th minute) and then we concede the second one (Ousmane Dembele) after one minute. That created some bad feelings,” Maresca told TNT Sports.
“Second half, we were much better and probably deserved something more.”
City had arrived on the back of a 3-0 thrashing of Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday and Maresca felt they generated enough chances to salvage something even after digging themselves a three-goal hole.
“Even with 3-0 in the first half, with the amount of chances we created in the second half, we deserved more,” he said.
“Luis (Enrique, PSG’s manager) said at the end of the game that they were quite lucky today.
“You have to be clinical but not lose the balance,” Maresca said.
The defeat unfolded against a backdrop of turmoil stretching far beyond City, with the fallout from the seismic verdict over the 114 breaches sending shockwaves through the Premier League and making City the villains of English football in the eyes of many.
They have denied wrongdoing and have appealed.
On the pitch, they remain three points clear of Arsenal atop the Premier League table ahead of Saturday’s home game against Ipswich.
Asked if he had a message for supporters, Maresca said: “We are sorry for the first half for sure. Saturday is a Premier League game and we need to continue our run.”
Champions League – League Phase:
*Feyenoord – Como 3-2
*LASK – Liverpool 3-6
*AS Roma – Real Madrid 3-4
*Aston Villa – Fenerbahce 6-0
*Betis – FC Porto 3-2
*Bodo/Glimt – Dortmund 1-0
*Manchester City – PSG 2-4
*Shakhtar Donetsk – AEK Athens 3-1
*Slovan Bratislava – Stuttgart 0-3
*PHOTO CAPTION: Rudiger (sandwiched in between two red-shirted Roma players) scores Real Madrid’s winning goal at the death.
