Being the last Italian team that haven’t yet secured their place in the next round of the Champions League, As Roma, played their final group game against CFR Cluj in a determined fashion and successfully grabbed their ticket despite only getting a point in Romania.
Former Ac Milan striker, Marco Borriello scored first in the game to put the Italian ahead, but the home team did equalize couple of minutes before the game ended through Lacina Traore.
Only needing a point to secure their path in the next round, Roma didn’t really want to mess up their chance as the capital club started a strong squad with Jeremy Menez supporting Francesco Totti and Marco Borriello up front. The determination from the away team can also be seen by the amount of chances that they get in the first period before Borriello finally puts them ahead after pouncing on Fabio Simplicio’s pass.
Roma’s goal makes the match more interesting as the home team started to pour forward in search for the equalizer as they doesn’t have the intention to be humiliated in front of their own fans. The home team’s stubborn effort finally gets rewarded just two minutes from the final 90 as Traore managed to head down Culio’s cross from the right flank and beat the Italian team’s keeper, Bogdant Lobont.
The result is more than enough to secure the away team’s path into the next round, completing the Italian teams tickets for the competition after both Inter Milan and Ac Milan are already through to the next round. The capital side will surely had their eye set in fixing their current position on the league for a while now as the next round of the competition won’t start until February next year.
Unmotivated Milan Crushed by Ajax
Another Italian team that took the field on the same day with Roma, Ac Milan, set up a different mentality compared to their compatriot as the Rossoneri players clearly looked unmotivated in playing the game. Ajax control the match rather easily as Milan didn’t seem interested enough in matching the away team’s high work rate on the game despite the home team did fielded a pretty experienced side.
Despite having more opportunity since the first half, Ajax could only start to score midway into the second half through two excellent long range efforts that beats the fine performance of Milan’s keeper, Marco Amelia. The Dutch team’s first goal was scored by De Zeeuw, who slammed home Siem De Jong’s ricochet shot and the second one came from Alderweireld’s excellent shot that was pretty much unstoppable for any keeper.
This defeat surely doesn’t give any effect for the Rossoneri as they already ensured their place as the runners up in the group since their previous match against Auxerre, two weeks ago. However, the attitude that Milan players put out against Ajax left a big disappointment for their coach Massimiliano Allegri, who believes his team should never play that kind of football ever despite playing in a meaningless game.
“Behind this result is the lack of motivation, but that doesn’t mean playing like this, We should not have put in a performance like that, it should’ve been different,” Allegri said after the game.
Match Reports
CFR Cluj v As Roma 1-1
Goals: Traore 88(Cluj), Borriello 21(Roma)
Cluj: Stancioiu; Panin, Cadù, Rada, Edimar (Bjelanovic 62); Konè, Dica (Leo Veloso 46), Kivuvu, Culio; De Zerbi (Bastos 78), Traorè
Roma: Lobont; Cassetti (Cicinho 63), Mexes, N Burdisso, Castellini, Brighi, De Rossi, Simplicio; Menez (Greco 46); Totti, Borriello
Ac Milan v Ajax 0-2
Goals: De Zeeuw 56 (Ajax), Alderweireld 66 (Ajax)
Milan: Amelia; Bonera, Thiago Silva, Yepes, Antonini; Flamini (Boateng 26), Pirlo, Ambrosini (Ibrahimovic 64); Robinho (Merkel 77), Seedorf, Ronaldinho
Ajax: Stekelenburg; Van der Wiel, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Emanuelson; Enoh, Eriksen, De Zeeuw (Lindgren 83); Suarez (Tainio 93), S De Jong (El Hamdaoui 85), Sulejmani
photo credit: Catatan Bola Photo Gallery
