Roma defeated Bayer Leverkusen 3-2 at the Stadio Olimpico in their UEFA Champions League group stage fixture.
First half goals from Mohamed Salah and Edin Dzeko gave Roma the lead, but Admir Mehmedi and Javier Hernandez hit back in the second half before Miralem Pjanic sealed the win after Omer Toprak was sent off.
Remarkably, it took just seconds for the Giallorossi to take the lead. An excellent pass from Edin Dzeko gave Mohamed Salah the space and time to run at the Bayer goal, putting his shot underneath Bernd Leno to give the hosts an ideal start to the match. Leverkusen had a chance shortly after, but Javier Hernandez couldn’t make the most of the ball from Hakan Calhanoglu.
Just before the half hour mark, Dzeko had a goal of his own. The defenders were parted by an incisive pass from Radja Nainggolan, allowing Dzeko to bound forward and slide the ball past Leno to double their advantage. Moments later Dzeko was in again, but he completely miscued his shot sending it over the crossbar.
In the second half the Germans did make the breakthrough. Kevin Kampl fed the ball through to Admir Mehmedi just inside the area, who smashed it past Woljciech Szczesny with great power. Just minutes later it was all even. Hernandez finally finding the back of the net thanks to a pass from substitute Karim Bellarabi, who gave the Mexican all the space he needed in front of goal.
A lifeline for Roma came in the form of a penalty. Salah was pushed off the ball by Omer Toprak, who was sent off for the offence. Miralem Pjanic slotted it home to complete the victory.
