Tammy Abraham sends Roma into the UEFA Europa Conference League final
Roma will play Feyenoord in the UEFA Europa Conference League final after club top scorer Tammy Abraham headed the only goal of the game to beat Leicester City 10 on the night and 2-1 on aggregate at the Stadio Olimpico.
Giallorossi manager Jose Mourinho outwitted Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers - who was on his coaching staff at Chelsea - as Roma denied the dangerous Foxes a single shot on target in a confident first-half display.
Lorenzo Pellegrini had already made Kasper Schmeichel save his awkward free-kick by the time the Roma captain delivered a pinpoint corner towards Abraham in front of goal in the 11th minute.
The cross was a gift for the striker who had already scored eight goals in the competition this season, and he responded by powering an unstoppable header past Schmeichel to give Roma the lead in front of around 60,000 boisterous home supporters.
Toiling on the flanks while looking susceptible to counterattacks, Leicester urgently needed change. Rodgers provided it when he replaced Ademola Lookman with Daniel Amartey and Harvey Barnes with Kelechi Iheanacho at the break, and the result was a noticeable shift in intensity from the visitors, fearing the end of a long European campaign.
What they still lacked was accuracy, and Roma continued to look comfortable as they waited out the initial waves of attacks, letting Leicester have more possession and lurking for chances of their own.
Maddison and iheanacho eventually drew saves from Rui Patricio during the closing stages, but the goalkeeper was not troubled by either effort and had a comfortable evening.
Rodgers looked crestfallen at the end, consoling his players after they failed to land a glove on Roma. Mourinho, who had willed his players on strenuously throughout, will take Roma to the final in Tirana on May 25.
Fans clash before FrankfurtWest Ham and Marseille-Feyenoord
More than 30 arrests were made after supporters of English club West Ham and local team Eintracht Frankfurt clashed before their Europa League game, police said Thursday.
Frankfurt police said in a statement that they had to intervene "at several locations" the previous night because of fights between rival fans or because supporters "wanted to fight." The police said they stopped major altercation around the main train station.
Police say up to 1,000 visiting supporters "including fans considered to be a risk" were registered before the game.
"The rival fan groups kept looking for violent clashes, which the police prevented by quickly intervening, especially in the station area. Despite that, there were physical attacks elsewhere," the statement said, referring to an attack carried out by Frankfurt fans that left two visiting supporters unconscious. Both men had to be hospitalized due to their injuries.
Other altercations included an attack by a larger group of Frankfurt fans on West Ham supporters in a pub, in which baseball bats were used.
Frankfurt was hosting West Ham for the second leg of their Europa League semifinal on Thursday. Frankfurt was leading 2-1 from the first leg.
There were also violent clashes in France between Marseille and Feyenoord fans outside the Stade Velodrome stadium before the return leg of their Europa Conference League semifinal.
One video showed a Marseille apparently unconscious on the ground as he was helped by fellow fans, another showed two groups charging at each other shortly before kickoff just outside the stadium.
This latest incident in the French seaport follows violent clashes between fans of Marseille and Greek side PAOK last month.
Although Marseille's police prefecture had said Wednesday that all supporters from Feyenoord were banned from entering the city center before Thursday, many had arrived by Wednesday and were drinking in the tourist area of Vieux Port (Old Port).
The prefecture said there were 20 arrests following sporadfic fights around the port and its surrounding streets on Wednesday evening and later that night.
Around 3,000 Feyenoord fans had tickets for the game but police had anticipated more than 1,000 arriving without tickets during Thursday. The game was considered high risk and the police presence was stepped up. Large groups of Feyenoord supporters were ferried to the stadium in specially designated buses.
After the violent incidents between PAOK and Marseille, where opposing sets of fans threw firecrackers at each other during the match, UEFA closed one end of the Stade Velodrome for Thursday's visit of Feyenoord. The section located behind one of the goals holds around 13,000 home fans and was located alongside the away section.
Feyenoord has one of the more active hooligan elements in Dutch soccer. Hooligans from Feyenoord were reportedly among those clashing heavily with Dutch police in Rotterdam during a riot against coronavirus restrctions in November.