Match report: Roma 3-0 Chelsea
Dominic Fifield was at the Stadio Olimpico for the Guardian and his winged monkey has just tapped on the window of Guardian Towers to hand in this on-the-whistle Halloween dispatch.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roma | 4 | 4 | 8 |
| 2 | Chelsea | 4 | 4 | 7 |
| 3 | Atletico Madrid | 4 | -1 | 3 |
| 4 | FK Karabakh | 4 | -7 | 2 |
Some good news for Chelsea ...
Elsewhere in Group C, it’s finished Atletico Madrid 1-1 Qarabag. I wonder who’s angrier: Antonio Conte or Diego Simone. It’s on nights like this that players working under managers like that earn their money. Imagine having to go in and face Conte after a performance like that, eh?
Full time: Roma 3-0 Chelsea
It’s all over at the Stadio Olimpico, where an uncharacteristically sloppy Chelsea have been thrashed by Roma. Stephan El Shaarawy scored two and Diego Perotti bagged a third to put the game beyond visitors who were as bad as I’ve ever seen them play under Antonio Conte. Defensively, they were a total dog’s dinner. Their midfielders couldn’t hold on to the ball and their forwards were fairly toothless. Conte has plenty to think about ahead of the weekend’s match against Manchester United.
90 min: One wonders what Roman Abramovich will be thinking as he watches this debacle. There are already questions over Antonio Conte’s future and this performance is unlikely to lighten his Russian employer’s mood.
88 min: Chelsea win a corner, which Roma clear with ease. There’s zero sense of urgency from an English side that clearly knows that , for tonight at least, the jig is well and truly up. They’ve been dismal tonight and can consider themselves very lucky to be no more than three goals down. They’ll be one point behind Roma at close of play tonight. If it finishes 1-1 between Atletico Madrid and Qarabag in Spain, they’ll still be in the box seat to qualify for the group stages.
86 min: Roma substitution: Marco Perotti off, Lorenzo Pellegrini on. Perotti scored one for his team, but will rue the absolute sitter he missed.
84 min: A neat dummy from Michy Batshuayi in the Roma penalty area allows Pedro to shoot on goal. His effort takes a deflection and loops towards the far post. Batshuayi had made a run anticipating some scraps, but is muscled off the ball by a defender.
82 min: It’s been a dreadful night for Chelsea, who have gone from middling to bad to worse as this match has progressed. One bit of good news for them is that 10-man Qarabag are still holding Atletico Madrid in Spain. If that match finishes in a draw, Chelsea and Roma would remain favourites to advance from this group to the knockout stages.
80 min: It’s Courtois to the rescue again as he saves instinctively from a Kostas Manolas bullet-header from six yards. Indeed, the substitue is so impressed that he seeks out the goalkeeper for a handshake once the ball goes out of play. Nainggolan, who had curled the ball on to Manolas’s head rubs his hands either side of his mohawk in disbelief. That was an incredible save.
79 min: Radja Nainggolan picks up a pass a couple of yards outside the Chelsea penalty area and shoots for goal. Courtois flings himself to his right and claws the ball away for a corner.
77 min: Chelsea get forward without giving the ball away, but Pedro’s cross from the right is too close to Alisson, who grabs it with a minimum of fuss.
75 min: Roma double substitution: Gerson and Kostas Manolas on for Stephan El Shaarawy and Alessandro Florenzi. Chelsea substitution: Michy Batshuayi on for Alvaro Morata. El Shaarawy gets a standing ovation as he leaves the pitch.
74 min: Bakayoko loses the ball and Dzeko advances before dragging a shot wide.
72 min: The build-up to that Perotti miss a couple of minutes ago was like something you’d see at a kid’s football match. As the ball wasp layed forward to Dzeko, all three Chelsea players ran to him, leaving Perotti with acres and acres of space to run into. Only his ineptitude prevented him from increasing his side’s lead after Dzeko picked him out.
71 min: Chelsea substitution: Danny Drinkwater on for Cesc Fabregas, who started brightly, but got increasingly sloppy and was directly responsible for gifting Roma their third goal.
68 min: An unbelievable miss from Diego Perotti, who shoots high over the bar from 15 yards when completely unmarked. One again, Chelsea were an absolute mess at the back as the ball was played forward to Edin Dzeko on the counter. He held it up well, while being marked by three defenders, before picking out the completely unmarked Perotti. With the goal at his mercy, he blazed over. Chelsea’s back three have completely lost their shape and on his return to Roma, Antonio Rudiger is having an absolute shocker. He keeps getting caught far up the field, way out of position.
65 min: That really was shocking from Chelsea, whose manager will be furious with his players. After a series of botched clearances, they finally got the ball to Fabregas in midfield, only for him to play it straight to Radja Nainggolan. He played it forward to Perotti, who cut inside Pedro and shot past Courtois from 20 yards.
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GOAL! Roma 3-0 Chelsea (Perotti 63)
Chelsea pay for their mistakes, with one blunder after another eventually costing them dearly. Cesc Fabregas gives the ball away outside his own penalty area, Perotti shoots from the edge of the area and the ball fizzes in the bottom left-hand corner past the grasping hand of Thibaut Courtois.
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62 min: Strootman picks out Diego Perotti on the left touchline. His cross is only half-cleared, the ball is sent back to him and again, Chelsea fail to clear his cross unconvincingly. Chelsea are playing really badly here tonight.
60 min: Chelsea get forward down the left touchline, with Marcos Alonso beating Florenzi with a wonderful bit of skill before undoing his good work with a wildly overhit cross.
57 min: Alvaro Morata scuffs a daisy cutter a couple of feet wide of the upright from the edge of the penalty area. He looks most unhappy with life at the moment. Gary Cahill didn’t look too impressed when he was forced to make way for Willian either, it must be said.
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57 min: Meanwhile in Spain, Atletico Madrid have equalised against Qarabag. It’s 1-1 there.
55 min: Pedro fouls Edin Dzeko and the break in play allows Antonio Conte to make a substitution: Willian on for Gary Cahill. Cesar Azpilicueto moves into the back three, Pedro moves back to right-wing back and Willian takes up Pedro’s position in the front three.
54 min: Diego Perotti goes on a surging run through midfield before laying the ball off to El Shaarawy on the edge of the Chelsea penalty area. He picks out Edin Dzeko, who shoots high and wide of the upright with his left foot.
52 min: Eden Hazard gives away possession on the edge of the Roma penalty area and the home side gallop off on the counter. Edin Dzeko plays a loose pass and Cesc Fabregas lumps the ball forward towards Morata. He’s flagged for offside, but replays show the decision was incorrect.
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51 min: Alvaro Morata goes down injured after a tussle with Roma central defender Juan Jesus. He’ll live.
50 min: Roma have started the stronger of the two sides in the opening minutes of this second half and are barely giving Chelsea a sniff of the ball. “Considering they’re 2-0 down they’ve been very passive for the past five minutes of this second half,” says BT Sport pundit Owen Hargreaves.
47 min: Diego Perotti finds himself in acres of space on the left flank and dinks a cross into Edin Dzeko on the edge of the six yard box. He attempts to guide the ball home inside the far post with the outside of his right boot, but doesn’t get decent contact on it and steers it wide. The idea was good, but the execution left plenty to be desired. A good chance goes begging.
Second half: Roma 2-0 Chelsea
46 min: There are no changes on either side as Roma get the ball rolling for the second half. Elsewhere in this group, Qarabag lead Atletico Madrid 1-0 in Spain - a state of affairs few right-thinking people were expecting.
Half-time: Roma 2-0 Chelsea
Roma are 2-0 up at the break, having opened the scoring in the first minute with an excellent strike off the outside of the boot from Stephan El Shaarawy. A dreadful mistake by Antonio Rudiger on his return to Roma allowed El Shaarawy to double his and Roma’s tally of goals for the evening and they’ll be happy with their performance at the break. Chelsea don’t look out of it, mind - they’ve been second best, but not without their chances. Eden Hazard has gone close, while Tiemoue Bakayoko has missed a sitter.
44 min: Marcos Alonso brings a good save out of Allison with a long range effort and Chelsea win themselves a corner. The balls arrowed across the edge of the six-yard box, where Tiemoue Bakayoko misses somehow puts a bullet-header wide of the left upright. The goal was gaping, he had a free header and he somehow put it wide.
42 min: More bad news for Chelsea fans - Cesar Azpilicueta has picked up a knock and looks to be struggling. Anotonio Conte was about to substitute him, but the Spaniard signalled that he’d be OK until half-time at least.
40 min: Moments before that goal went in, Roma had a three-on-three in a lightning fast counter-attack. Edin Dzeko played the ball wide to El Shaarawy, whose first touch let him down a mite. He unleashed a shot from a tight-ish angle, but Courtois got down to save.
38 min: On his return to the Stadio Olimpico, Antonio Rudiger gifts a goal to his former club. From midfield, the ball was played towards the Chelsea penalty area and bounced into it. Antonio Rudiger stepped to one side to usher it through to Thibaut Courtois, while Stephan El Shaarawy sprinted between the two players and slotted home clinically. That’s a dreadful mistake by Rudiger and it leaves his team two down.
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GOAL! Roma 2-0 Chelsea (El Shaarawy 36)
Roma double their lead, with Stephan El Shaarawy taking advantage of a mix-up in the Chelsea defence to finish clinically.
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35 min: Roma blow a wonderful chance to go 2-0 up as they break on a lightning fast counter-attack ... oh, hang on.
32 min: Chelsea continue to trail their hosts, who scored in less than 40 seconds, but have been on top for the past 15 minutes or so. It is they who are now dominating possession, but creating little in the way of goalscoring opportunities. Eden Hazard has looked a threat, but has been restricted to a couple of long range efforts. Alvaro Morato has been quiet, but missed one good chance. Pedro has yet to make much of an impression.
28 min: Eden Hazard jinks this way and that bvefore going down on the edge of the Roma penalty area under a nasty challenge from Alessandro Florenzi. That was a blatant free-kick, but referee Jonas Eriksson doesn’t award it. There’s a break in play while Hazard receives treatment on his ankle.
28 min: Looking at a replay of that Morata opportunity, he really should have done better. The ball sat up beautifully for him, but Becker’s reacted that little bit more quickly than the Chelsea striker who has looked strangely out of sorts in recent games.
25 min: Loose play results in a clearance from Aleksandar Kolarov taking a deflection off Pedro. The ball cannons into the penalty area, allowing Alvaro Morato to pounce. He should blast past Becker from about seven or eight yards out, but the goalkeeper reacts quickly to maintain his side’s lead.
22 min: The ball is sent in to the Chelsea penalty area, where it’s only half-cleared and breaks for El Shaaraway. He tees up Daniele De Rossi on the edge of the area, but he shoots high over the bar.
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21 min: Now it’s Roma’s turn to advance, with Kevin Strootman getting in behind the Chelsea defence and trying to pick out Stephan El Shaarawy at the back post. The ball is intercepted and goes out for a corner.
17 min: The game continues at a ferocious lick, with both teams looking dangerous on the counter but creating little in the way of chances. There are a few interruptions for niggly fouls. Eden Hazard runs at the Roma defence, takes the ball around Federico Fazio on the edge of the Roma Penalty area and shoots low and hard towards the bottom left-hand corner. Becker saves comfortably.
Updated
15 min: Fabregas is looking lively and plays another long ball towards the corner for Marcos Alonso to chase. Right-back Alessandro Florenzi intercepts and plays the ball to the feet of his goalkeeepr, Alisson Becker.
13 min: Chelsea get some time on the ball but are given little time to settle. Fabregas plays a wonderful cross-field pass to Marcos Alonso, who plays it inside to Alvaro Morata. He tees up Bakayoko, who is unable to get off a shot.
11 min: Roma advance down the right flank, with Nainggolan combining with Diego Perotti. They’re bossing midfield at the moment, where Chelsea are outnumbered.
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8 min: Roma are dominating, getting forward in numbers and at great speed, but aren’t having it all their own way here. Chelsea have made a couple of half chances, despite not settling into the game too comfortably at this early stage. It’s difficult to believe there are less than 10 minutes on the clock.
6 min: El Shaarawy peels off Marcos Alonso and runs on to a long ball into the Chelsea penalty area. Alsonso chases back to cover and Courtois clutches the ball to his chest. El Shaarawy must be feeling invincible, having scored two wonderful goals in as many games. His winner for Roma against Bologna at the weekend was a sensational volley.
4 min: Cesc Fabregas tees up Eden Hazard, who shoots straight at Becker from a fairly narrow angle. This has been an incredible start to what’s already promising to be an absolute belter of a match. Fasten your seatbelts.
2 min: Moments after Pedro had shot weakly at Alisson Becker after being put through on goal by Tiémoué Bakayoko, Roma went up the far end of the field and scored. The ball was hoyed long by Aleksandar Kolarov to Edin Dzeko, who knocked it down to the edge of the box. No sooner had it hit the ground than Stephan El Shaarawy caught it sweetly on the half volley and sent the ball fizzing into the corner. Thibaut Courtois didn’t even see it.
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GOAL! Roma 1-0 Chelsea (El Shaarawy 1)
Wow! What a start. Roma lead with less than a minute on the clock and it wasn’t even the first shot of the game.
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Roma v Chelsea is go ...
1 min: Chelsea kick off, their players lining up in white shirts, short and socks, with Thibaut Courtois a vision in green. Roma’s players wear their customary red wine coloured shirts, shorts and socks with gold trim around the neck.
Not long now: It’s Antonio Conte’s first match back in Italy since joining Chelsea and his team stand on the brink of the knockout stages. If they win tonight, they’re through to the last 16 with two games to spare. The teams line up in the cavernous tunnel with about 20 yards separating them and walk up the stairs and out two separate exits, before hitting the bottleneck that is the mini Champions League arch. Through it they go, before lining up either side of Jonas Eriksson and his team of match officials. Kick off is just a couple of minutes away.
Antonio Conte speaks ...
Asked if N’Golo Kante was ready for tonight: “No, otherwise he is a difficult player to leave out,” he says to BT Sport’s Matt Smith. “His feeling is not 100% and my feeling is it’s not right to push the player. The player must feel the right feeling.”
Asked if he was tempted to play across the middle and whether he’d be happy to settle for a draw: “Every game I try to win the game,” he says. “I try to find the best solution. I will see on the pitch for sure. Roma is a very good team. At Stamford Bridge they played a good game. We must be concentrated on the performance and after the performance we will see the final result.”
No place for N'Golo Kante
Tonight’s match seems to have come a few days to soon for the Chelsea midfielder, who will watch from the stands having failed to recover sufficiently from his hamstring injury to take his place on the bench. It’s bound to be an emotional return to the Stadio Olimpico for Antonio Rudiger, a £43m signing from Roma for Chelsea during the summer.
After the Rome derby last December, Lazio’s Senad Lulic racially abused Rudiger, saying “two years ago he was selling socks and belts in Stuttgart, now he acts like he’s a phenomenon”. Lazio fans proceeded to make monkey noises at the defender during the subsequent meeting of the sides, but they and their club went unpunished.
“You see posters saying ‘No to racism’ but nothing is really done about it in Italy,” said Rudiger. “In several games fans have made monkey chants but still nothing has happened. It’s simply incomprehensible. I find it’s easy for other people who don’t have the same skin colour as me to say that we should stay quiet. They will never know how it feels. My opinion is that this needs to be dealt with strongly.” He was widely praised for his comments.
• This segment was amended on 1 November 2017. An earlier version had a picture of Tiémoué Bakayoko and captioned it as being of Antonio Rudiger. This picture has been removed.
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Football Weekly - some pre-match listening ...
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Roma v Chelsea line-ups ...
Roma: Alisson, Florenzi, Fazio, Juan Jesus, Kolarov, Nainggolan, De Rossi, Strootman, El Shaarawy, Dzeko, Perotti.
Subs: Skorupski, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Moreno, Under, Gonalons, Gerson, Manolas.
Chelsea: Courtois, Rudiger, Luiz, Cahill, Azpilicueta, Fabregas, Bakayoko, Alonso, Pedro, Morata, Hazard.
Subs: Caballero, Drinkwater, Kenedy, Zappacosta, Willian, Batshuayi, Christensen.
Referee: Jonas Eriksson (Sweden)
Early Roma team news
Kostas Manolas, the Roma defender, is likely to miss tonight’s match with a thigh strain while his fellow defenders Bruno Peres (hammy) and Rick Karsdorp (cruciate ligament) are also out. The Italians may also be without striker Gregoire Defrel, who is suffering from an ankle injury.
When in Rome ...
Greetings and welcome to the Guardian’s minute-by-minute coverage of Roma v Chelsea at the Stadio Olimpico. The reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge a fortnight ago was a real treat and ended honours even in a high scoring thriller, but Roma may feel they left victory behind them. They’re two points behind Chelsea with Atletico Madrid breathing down their necks. Plenty of Champions League group stage matches have the whiff of non-event about them, but this is unlikely to be one of them. Kick-off is at 7.45pm (GMT), but stay tuned for team news and build-up.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chelsea | 3 | 7 | 7 |
| 2 | Roma | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| 3 | Atletico Madrid | 3 | -1 | 2 |
| 4 | FK Karabakh | 3 | -7 | 1 |
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