Magnificent Under sees Roma push past Benevento

Magnificent Under sees Roma push past Benevento

Date: 11th February 2018 at 10:43pm
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Roma overcame an early shock to see off Benevento with a 5-2 victory at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday evening, courtesy of a dominant Cengiz Under performance.

After Guilherme twisted in the box and fired in a deflected effort to put Benevento ahead, the Giallorossi came fighting back thanks to headers from Federico Fazio and Edin Dzeko.

The match was put beyond all doubt by Under’s brace, including a fine curling strike, before Benevento hit back themselves through Enrico Brignola. Deep into stoppage time Gregoire Defrel tucked away a penalty to add gloss to the victory.

Benevento silenced the Stadio Olimpico with only seven minutes on the clock. Pushing upfield, Brignola found the ball wide left before sending in a low cross for Guilherme. The Brazilian’s drag back fashioned space for himself to shoot, but his effort took a deflection of Kostas Manolas to fly past the outstretched Alisson.

Roma looked to hit straight back and came close moments later. Under collected the ball on the edge of the box and rolled through for Stephan El Shaarawy. A fine first touch took the forward away from his marker and a powerful effort was well blocked by Christian Puggioni.

After a quiet opening quarter of an hour, Edin Dzeko burst into life. The Bosnian sprayed the ball out right before meeting Under’s curling cross in the box and forcing a good save with his downward header.

The Giallorossi striker came even closer soon after, as he rose highest from a corner to see a powerful goalbound header cannon off Sandro’s chest.

Midway through the first half Roma drew level. A deep Aleksandar Kolarov freekick was bent into the box but Benevento’s high defensive line failed to track Fazio, who leapt up to nod home with ease.

Roma were beginning to take control of the game and were dominating in the air. Soon after El Shaarawy had nodded a corner just past the back post, a charging Manolas leapt above his marker to head another set-piece inches wide.

After the break, Benevento looked the sharpest and did well to restrict Roma to few clear chances. Indeed, the bottom club had the best chance to break the deadlock, as Gaetano Letizia latched onto a long ball and looked to cut inside Alessandro Florenzi to be clean through, only to lose his footing at the crucial moment.

The match was turned on its head on the hour mark, as a quickfire double ensured Roma completed the turnaround. Under’s blistering pace allowed the Turkish international to burst past Andrea Costa and whip in a menacing cross from the byline, and Dzeko got between the defence to power a header off the underside of the crossbar.

Moments later the game was put beyond doubt, courtesy of the excellent Under. Dzeko’s pass out wide was collected by Perotti, who rolled the ball across the box for the youngster to sidefoot his second goal in as many games.

Midway through the second period Under doubled his tally in style. Taking control of the ball outside the box, the 20-year-old stepped inside Lorenzo Venuti and curl in a magnificent effort past Puggioni.

However, Benevento hit back immediately from kick off. Guilherme charged down the right before slipping Cristiano Lombardi in the box. The former Lazio player squared for Brignola to tap in with ease.

Roma soon shut up shop and closed down the space, preventing Benevento from fashioning any further openings. A neat Guilherme turn allowed Sandro the space to shoot, but the former Tottenham midfielder sliced his effort well wide.

Deep into stoppage time a low Dzeko cross came off the hand of the sliding Berat Djimsiti, and Defrel duly tucked away the penalty off the post for his first Roma goal.

The victory sees Roma leapfrog rivals Lazio into fourth place, whilst Benevento remain rooted to the foot of the table.

 

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