The Roman curse: how Lazio and Roma managed to lose Celtic and Borussia in the 95 minutes

The failure of the Romans

Two weeks ago, Roma and Lazio simultaneously lost points at the end of their matches in the 3rd round of the group stage of the Europa League. The first Roman team then missed the victory over the Mönchengladbach Borussia, and the second lost to the Celtic away.

On Thursday, the situation repeated itself - both teams from the capital of Italy, missed shortly before the final whistle, having been defeated with a score of 1: 2. Decisive goals in the matches were scored in the 95th minute.

Moreover, Lazio opened an account at the very beginning of the second leg against Celtic. Serie A's top scorer Ciro Immobile has scored the 15th goal of the season. But the Scotland champion recouped shortly before the break, and already in the time added by the referee he won a victory. Jules Ntshan burst into the penalty area and elegantly threw the goalkeeper. A strong-willed victory allowed Celtic to become the first team in this draw, which guaranteed itself a ticket to the playoffs of the tournament. Lazio had only illusory chances to enter the next stage, which can be called a sensation.

As for the Roma, in Mönchengladbach, the wards of Paulo Fonseca were the first to miss, but managed to recoup in the middle of the second half: defender Federico Fasio first hit his goal, and then the strangers. At the 95th minute, the son of world champion in the French national team Liliana Thuram - Marcou - scored the fourth goal in a row in all tournaments and brought his team a victory.

Spanish defeats

The Spanish clubs in the current LES draw are doing much better. “Espanyol” with “Seville” defeated their rivals with a total score of 11: 2 and prematurely stepped into the playoffs. CSKA opponent tried especially hard for the group, who sent six unanswered goals to the Ludogorets goal at home. This was greatly facilitated by the fact that the champion of Bulgaria in the middle of the first half remained nine times after two deletions.

In turn, Sevilla did not leave a chance to Luxembourg Dudelange - 5: 2. Munir El-Haddadi composed the hat-trick as part of the Spanish team, while Munas Dabbur wrote down a double at his own expense. The owners have two goals of prestige on the account of Danel Sinani. It is curious that this midfielder with nine accurate punches takes the second place in the tournament scorers race.

But the opponent of “Krasnodar” in group C “Getafe” on the road lost to “Basel” - 1: 2 and allowed the southerners to catch up with themselves in the standings. Now both teams have six points.

Dry Manchester United and Lucky Wolverhampton

Two victories were also won by teams representing the Premier League. Manchester United left no chance for the Serbian Partizan at home and guaranteed themselves participation in the playoffs. Even in the first half, the hosts scored twice, and after the break they brought the matter to a rout and stopped at that. It is gratifying that 18-year-old striker Mason Greenwood managed to open an account. For him, this goal was his debut in European competition and the second in the “Manchester United”.

Also, the Mankunians did not miss again. They remain the only team that in the current draw of LE has not yet got the ball out of their goal.

Wolverhampton was much more difficult. The Nunu team pulled out a home victory over Slovan only in the time compensated by the referee. At the same time, the hosts could save the nerve cells to their fans if Ruben Neves made a penalty at the very beginning of the second half.

But “Arsenal” on Wednesday for the first time lost points in the current season of LE. Londoners on the road failed to beat Victoria Guimaraes. In the hardest match in the pouring rain, the gunners seemed to tip the scales in their favor, when ten minutes before the final whistle they stepped forward after drawing the standard. However, in the time added by the referee, the hosts still pulled out a draw thanks to Bruno’s blow through himself.

Portugal's victorious tread

If Victoria Guimaraes is not doing well, despite a draw with Arsenal, and the team has almost lost their chances of reaching the playoffs, then the rest of the Portuguese teams feel much better.

Offender “Spartacus” “Braga” and “Sporting” won another victory and lead in their groups. But the “Port” somewhat spoiled the overall picture, losing on the road “Rangers” - 0: 2. The team of The Luis with four points is in last place in Quartet G and runs the risk of not getting into the playoffs with Victoria.

However, even such local failures do not negate the fact that this season is very successful for Portugal in European competition. The teams representing the country scored 6.7 points on five against the UEFA odds table and continue to break away from Russia (3.5) in the fight for sixth place, giving the right to enter three teams in the Champions League.

Two draws for Ukraine and a wonderful goal by Yaremchuk

In the 4th round, the Ukrainian teams performed a little less successfully than the Russian ones, but again managed without defeats - two draws. Dynamo Kiev on the road parted ways with Copenhagen.

Moreover, for blue and white at first everything went wrong. The guests opened the account already in the fourth minute, and Viktor Tsygankov did not realize a penalty. But in the second half, Benjamin Verbich still restored the status quo on the scoreboard.

In turn, the modest Alexandria at home, like Shakhtar in the Champions League, won two goals. Saint-Etienne scored twice in Lviv and seemed to be heading for a landslide victory. But in the end, the hosts managed to work a miracle: those who replaced Denis Bezborodko and Maxim Zaderaka saved the team from defeat.

Finally, once again the Ukrainian striker of Gent Roman Yaremchuk loudly declared himself. After the first half, his team away with a minimum score was inferior to Wolfsburg, but at the very beginning of the second the striker struck a stunning blow to the meeting from outside the penalty area and equalized.

Subsequently, the Belgian team scored twice more and gained a strong-willed victory, and Yaremchuk himself with seven goals shares the fourth place in the tournament scorers race.

The failure of "Karabakh" and "Astana"

Other representatives of the CIS countries are not doing well in the Europa League. Azerbaijani champion "Karabakh" in Cyprus lost to APOEL, despite the quick goal scored by Maxim Medvedev in the tenth minute. Gurban Gurbanov's team scored only four points in four matches and runs the risk of not leaving the relatively easy group A, in which Dudelange is also represented. By the way, the champion of Luxembourg is only one point behind APOEL and Karabakh and continues to fight for a ticket to the playoffs.

And “Astana”, which has recently once again become the champion of Kazakhstan, frankly fails in European cups this season. This time, wards of Roman Grigorchuk at home missed five unanswered goals from AZ, suffered a fourth defeat in a row at the group stage and finally lost their chances of reaching the playoffs.