Roma champion of the Conference League
This Wednesday the final of the first edition of the Conference League was held at the Air Albania Stadium where José Mourinho's Roma faced Arne Slot's Feyenoord. The Italian team was crowned champion of the tournament with a goal from Nicoló Zaniolo.
The match would begin with attempts by both teams to reach the rival goals, but without disturbing the goalkeepers. At minute 14', midfielder Mkhitaryan was injured and was replaced by Oliveira.
The same game dynamic would be maintained until minute 32 when the first and only goal of the match would be produced. Roma sends a center into the area and Traumer fails to clear, while Zaniolo receives from the chest, the control was a bit long and he manages to arrive in time to get a kind of 'Vaseline' that manages to beat the goalkeeper and convert the 1-0 final.
After the goal, both teams tried to take the initiative in attack, but although Feyenoord dominated the last minutes of the first half, they would go into the break with that result.
Starting the second half, Feyenoord would have a clear one. Traumer enters the area and manages to finish off hitting it on the post, but then it falls to Til who takes a shot that Rui Patricio manages to deflect.
At minute 49, Feyenoord was close to equalizing again. This time Malacia manages to get a left-footed shot from outside the area that Rui Patricio deflects again and hits the post. Again, the Romanist painting is saved.
Two minutes later, in a Roma against, Abraham was left alone and Senesi prevented him from advancing, grabbing him. The referee reviewed the VAR for possible expulsion, but did not proceed that way.
Feyenoord would continue to try in the next few minutes, however, Roma's central defenders would prevent the Dutch team from clearly arriving. At 66' Abraham uncomfortably hits him with a volley inside the area, but the ball goes over the crossbar.
At 72', Roma tried again and this time through Veretout, who took a powerful shot from outside the area and goalkeeper Bijlow saved with both hands. At 85', Pellegrini had the second for the Italians, he received in the area and took a cross shot that ended up being stopped by the Feyenoord goalkeeper.
The match would end with the victory of the team led by José Mourinho, resulting in the first champion of this competition and also, the Portuguese coach becomes the first to win all European competitions.
The Portuguese won the UEFA Champions League with Porto in 2003-04 and with Inter Milan in 2009-10, the UEFA Europa League with Porto in 2002-03 and with Manchester United in 2016-17. With this competition, 'The Special One' as Mourinho is nicknamed, makes history by also leading Roma to be the champion of the Conference League.