Roma find their smile again in the Europa League too after beating Lecce 4-1 in the championship: the Giallorossi team beat Braga 3-0 at the Olimpico and rises to 9 points in the standings, but in addition to the victory there are many positive notes available to Claudio Ranieri, who is enjoying the first goals of the season from three players who for different reasons have been the mysterious objects of these months: Lorenzo Pellegrini, Saud Abdulhamid and Mario Hermoso. The Roma captain – fresh from three consecutive benches – only needed eleven minutes to get on the scoresheet: Zalewski took off in a regular position and unloaded for the Giallorossi midfielder who fired with his right foot from the edge of the area and beat Matheus. Pellegrini came close to making it 2-0 on three other occasions in the first half of the game: in the 15th minute he hit the crossbar with his head following a cross from Mancini, in the 30th minute he almost hit the post following a suggestion from Kone and in the 40th minute he tested Matheus with a great shot from outside the area. The Portuguese goalkeeper also saves the goal in the 41st minute following a header from Ndicka, but the 2-0 is in the air and we have to wait until the second minute of the second half. Kone works the ball well and serves Saud Abdulhamid who breaks into the area and scores his first goal in the Giallorossi shirt with a sharp right-footed shot.
The Roma siege continues, but Soulé wastes two clear chances for a trio: the first in the 59th minute following an assist from Saud, the second in the 64th minute following a suggestion from an unstoppable Kone. The match ended with the expulsion of goalkeeper Matheus who in the 68th minute, in an attempt to stop Saud Abdulhamid outside the area, blocked his shot with his arm. Roma, with 11 against 10, lowered the pace a bit, but found the third goal in injury time with Hermoso, who put it into the net after goalkeeper Hornicek’s rejection of Ndicka’s previous shot. The Spaniard can also be an option for the Giallorossi’s next two European matches, the away one against AZ Alkmaar (23 January) and the home one against Eintracht (30 January).