AS Roma boss Claudio Ranieri admitted that luck did play a part in their 2-1 win over Cluj at the Stadio Olimpico. However, it was a fine outing for Italian clubs yesterday in the Champions League when both AS Roma and AC Milan recorded positive results to keep them on course to qualify for the knockout stages of the tournament.
In Amsterdam, Milan were away to Dutch league leaders Ajax at the Amsterdam Arena. Although history favoured the home side, Milan managed to get away with a point to keep them second in Group G. Milan have never won Ajax in their last 10 meetings. Their best result had been a draw with the host winning 4 of the fixtures.
To be honest, Ajax goal was a masterpiece and their display last night has shaken the underdogs title from them. In Rome, Roma were 2-1 winners over Cluj with Mexes and Boriello grabbing the goals.
The Giallorosso were however treated to a nervous ending of the match when Cluj cut the deficit with only 12 minutes left in the game. Ten minutes later and Lobont was called to action as he punched away Dica’s goal bound shot.
“I am satisfied with the performance, which was important after the win over Inter, as we had to kick-start our Champions League campaign,” Ranieri said. “We played pretty well and knew the difficulties we were facing, so we moved the ball around quickly.
“Putting more strikers on can leave us a bit stretched, so I seek unity more than the quality of those many forwards. They have great talent, but we cannot always play with that many strikers. Adriano needs playing time and sadly I cannot always give it to him. He’s a great champion clearly lacking match fitness and pace, but he fought for Roma and we should’ve passed him the ball more often, as he was left a little isolated.
“Slowly we will all get to know each other and I’m happy with the work he does in training.”
Photo credit: from Luke_Thigh_Stalker
