Roma beat 10-man CSKA to close in on last 16

AS Roma put themselves on the brink of a place in the Champions League knockout stage when Lorenzo Pellegrini’s first goal in the competition gave them a 2-1 win at 10-man CSKA Moscow yesterday.

The game was settled in a fourminute spell in the second half when CSKA, having just made it 1-1, had Hordor Magnusson sent off and Pellegrini grabbed a fortuitous winner for the Serie A side.

Roma, who completed a double over the Russian side in Group G, have nine points from four games while CSKA have four.

Roma, semi-finalists last season, went ahead through Kostas Manolas’ header in the fourth minute, and Alessandro Florenzi and Edin Dzeko wasted chances to put them further ahead before the break.

CSKA sounded a warning just before halftime when Georgi Shchennikov headed over with the goal at his mercy.

They levelled six minutes after the restart when Ilzat Akhmetov burst into the penalty area and found Arnor Sigurdsson, and the Icelandic teenager fired past Robin Olsen.

Magnusson was sent off five minutes later for tripping Justin Kluivert and Roma quickly took advantage.

Meanwhile, Valencia’s Carlos Soler had a hand in all three goals as the Spanish club beat Young Boys 3-1, boosting their last-16 hopes with their first home win of the season.

The La Liga been struggling domestically and sit 15th in the league, but they gave their home fans some cheer with a comfortable Group H win over the Swiss, who finished with 10 men after Sekou Sanogo was sent off late on for a high tackle.

Valencia took the lead after 14 minutes at the Mestalla when Soler side have surged through on goal and saw his angled chip come back off the post to be put in by Santi Mina.

Young Boys struck back in the 37th minute when Roger Assale drove the ball into the far bottom corner.

They were level for only four minutes, however, as Mina got his outstretched foot on to a cross from Soler, who finally got on the scoresheet to wrap up the win 10 minutes after halftime with a low strike from the right of the area.

Yesterday’s UEFA Champions League results