Roma v Shakhtar Donetsk Live Commentary & Result, 11/03/2021, UEFA Europa League

That is all we have time for folks, thanks for joining us. Goodbye!

Shakhtar failed to get a grip on the game in the second half, and that allowed Roma to rack up the goals. Shakhtar's discipline went out of the window, and that aspect needs to improve if they are to be a success in Europe. They will look for revenge next week in the second leg, but Roma will fancy their chances of beating them for a second time.

Roma put one foot into the quarter-finals of the Europa League after a superb second-half display helped them on their way to a 3-0 win over Shakhtar. They claimed a 1-0 lead in the first-half thanks to Pellegrini's neat finish, but they soon ran away with it in the second half. El Shaarawy's introduction was an inspired substitution as he scored the second with a delightful lob, while Mancini headed home from a corner just four minutes later. Shakhtar did have their fair share of chances, but Moraes and Tete were denied by Lopez, who was brilliant in goal for Fonseca's side.

90' + 4' FULL-TIME - ROMA 3-0 SHAKHTAR DONETSK.

90' + 2' It is not surprising, but Shakhtar are playing like a team that know they are on their way out of the competition. A three-goal deficit is going to be very hard to overturn in the second leg.

90' Four minutes of stoppage time to come!

Marcos Antonio

Marlos

88' Marlos also makes way as Antonio races onto the pitch.

Y. Konoplyanka

Tetê

87' Konoplyanka is given just three minutes of action, as he replaces Tete.

85' Shakhtar have failed to score in each of their last four matches against Italian opposition in European competition. They have a few minutes to make sure that the record does not stretch to five.

G. Mancini

Yellow Card

83' Mancini is booked for a rash challenge, and the referee suggests he is lucky to get it now, after claiming that is his fourth foul of the evening.

81' CLOSE! Karsdorp does tremendously well to get down the touchline and whip a cross into the box for Perez. Just as the Roma ace was about to fire home, Matvyenko got in his way and cleared the danger to keep it at 3-0.

Ibañez

A. Diawara

79' Diawara has done well to say he has been carrying an injury and he is given a rest and replaced by Ibanez.

M. Solomon

Taison

79' Taison is hauled to the bench after his yellow card, with Solomon coming on in his place.

H. Sudakov

Alan Patrick

79' Patrick makes way for Shakhtar as Sudakov is given 11 minutes to impress.

Bruno Peres

L. Spinazzola

78' Spinazzola's night is also over, replaced by Peres for the final 12 minutes.

Carles Pérez

L. Pellegrini

78' Fonseca has seen enough, and he is now replacing his crown jewels. Pellegrini is the first man to be subbed, with Perez his replacement.

B. Cristante

Assist

77' Cristante has been superb this evening, and he gets an assist to show for his efforts.

G. Mancini

Goal

77' GOAAALLLLL - ROMA 3-0 SHAKHTAR - Mancini seals the deal as he heads into the net from the resulting corner. Cristante met the cross at the near post, and his flick-on found his fellow centre-back. Mancini jumped above his marker to head home, and that is game set and match!

Dentinho

Júnior Moraes

76' Shakhtar turn to their bench as Dentinho replaces Moraes.

76' CHANCE! El Shaarawy nearly grabs his second goal inside four minutes, but Trubin keeps him at bay. Another long ball over the top caused chaos, but El Shaarawy's lob is tipped over for a corner.

Taison

Yellow Card

74' Taison now joins him in the referee's book as several players surrounded the official.

Borja Mayoral

Assist

73' Mayoral has been quiet in front of goal so far, but that assist will earn him plenty of praise after picking out El Shaarawy.

Maycon

Yellow Card

73' Maycon has gone berserk after Roma's second goal, and he is booked for dissent.

S. El Shaarawy

Goal

73' GOAAALLLL - ROMA 2-0 SHAKHTAR - A sensational solo run from El Shaarawy puts Roma two in front, and that is a stunning finish from the substitute. He managed to stay onside and race onto Mayoral's pass, but El Shaarawy still had plenty to do. He danced past two defenders before lobbing Trubin, and Roma look set to win this now.

69' El Shaarawy is sticking to the left touchline and trying to stretch the play since he came onto the field.

66' Moraes!!! For the third time this evening, he is denied by Lopez as the keeper reacts to his shot on the edge of the six-yard box. Roma failed to clear their lines but Lopez bails them out at the last second.

63' CHANCE!!!! El Shaarawy wastes a massive opportunity to make it 2-0 with his first touch, but he scuffs his effort, and Trubin gathers the ball with ease. The midfielder met Pellegrini's cross at the back post, but he seemed to get his run-up wrong before eventually tapping his shot towards the Shakhtar goal.

S. El Shaarawy

Pedro

62' Pedro's night is now over as he is replaced by El Shaarawy in midfield.

60' Diawara could barely put any weight on his leg, and he was helped from the field. He continues to try and shake off the injury though, so do not count him out just yet.

Alan Patrick

Yellow Card

58' Patrick now joins him after a strong challenge on Diawara, who is down receiving treatment.

M. Kumbulla

Yellow Card

55' Kumbulla becomes the first player to be booked tonight as he clips Moraes from behind, and he knew what he was doing. Shakhtar were readying a counter-attack, but Kumbulla ended that with a clumsy challenge.

52' For the second time in succession, nothing comes of the Shakhtar corner, and it remains 1-0.

51' BLOCK!! Mancini comes to the rescue as he stops Tete's shot from going in. The Shakhtar winger had made his way into the box after dribbling past several Roma defenders, but Mancini gets in his path to concede a corner.

49' Patrick's ball in is a poor one, and his delivery sails past the box and out of play.

48' SAVE! Lopez gets down to his right to preserve his clean sheet as he denies Tete from the edge of the area. Shakhtar win a corner, though, as nobody could keep Lopez's save in play.

46' We are back underway in Rome!

Shakhtar seemed to end the half in a more confident mood, but they have only forced Lopez into one meaningful save. While a 1-0 defeat is not the end of the world ahead of a second leg, they will want an away goal to give themselves a better chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals.

Pellegrini's 23rd-minute strike separates the two sides at the interval, and Roma certainly deserve their lead. They had gone close before his goal, which was created thanks to a beautiful throughball from Pedro. Fonseca lost Mkhitaryan to injury midway through the first-half, while Moraes went close to equalising for Shakhtar.

45' + 2' HALF-TIME - ROMA 1-0 SHAKHTAR.

45' Two minutes of stoppage time to come...

44' Shakhtar are slowly coming back into this match, but the first-half will be over shortly. They are winning possession higher up the pitch, and it should give them a boost going into the changing rooms at half-time.

41' The visitors are now putting eight men behind the ball in an attempt to smother the Roma attack. It has worked in the last few minutes, but it is likely to have a significant impact on their counter-attacking plans.

38' Shakhtar are really struggling to get their creative players on the ball, Taison has barely had a kick so far, and it is nearly half-time.

36' SO CLOSE!!! Roma win yet another corner and nearly grab a second goal. Cristante met Pellegrini's delivery at the near post, and his floating header almost found the top corner at the back post.

Borja Mayoral

H. Mkhitaryan

35' Sadly for Roma, Mkhitaryan has been unable to shake off his injury and he is now replaced by Mayoral.

33' Panic over for now, Mkhitaryan is back on the pitch and moving freely.

32' Worryingly for Roma, Mkhitaryan has gone down with a leg injury, and he has gone to the touchline for treatment.

31' CLOSE! Trubin's poor clearance is pounced on by Mkhitaryan, but the Armenia international fails to keep his lob under the crossbar.

27' SAVE!!! Lopez comes to Roma's rescue, and Shakhtar show they are still alive and kicking in this match. Dodo's cross was unchallenged, and Moraes was on hand to meet his delivery at the near post. He tried to keep his shot low, but Lopez got down to deny him.

25' Roma can now relax a little. They are playing with confidence and a swagger, and if they can maintain this, they may even grab a second before the interval.

Pedro

Assist

23' Pedro did well in a tight spot there. The former Chelsea man wriggled away from his marker, and his pass for Pellegrini was perfect.

L. Pellegrini

Goal

23' GOAAALLLLLL - ROMA 1-0 SHAKHTAR - The pressure finally tells, and Pellegrini fires Roma into the lead. Shakhtar went to sleep at the back, and Pedro raced forward before splitting the defence with a pass to his team-mate. Pellegrini took one touch before prodding the ball past Trubin. He made that look so easy!!

20' Roma have an injury to contend with, and it is Pellegrini that has gone down after colliding with Patrick. The Roma captain looks to be waving the physios away though, and should be OK to continue.

19' It is going to take some effort from Shakhtar to unsettle the home side tonight. Roma have won each of their last seven home knockout matches in major European competition.

17' Cristante is enjoying himself out there so far. The Roma centre-back continues to glide out of defence and look for a pass, and Shakhtar need to do a better job of closing him down.

14' Pellegrini's ball is poor and evades all of his team-mates, and Shakhtar win a goal-kick as a result.

13' Roma win another corner...

11' CHANCE!! Roma go close as Pellegrini bursts onto a throughball from Cristante before firing wide of the target. However, his blushes are spared as the offside flag went up anyway.

9' Shakhtar do not appear to have settled down just yet, but it is still early days in this Europa League contest.

7' Roma, as expected, are playing with a false nine, with Mkhitaryan dropping into midfield. That has so far worked well for them, allowing the former Arsenal man to link up with those behind him.

5' SAVE!!! Roma nearly open the scoring from a corner as Villar flicks the ball on at the near post with his chest. His effort appeared to be going over the line, but Trubin was on hand to push his effort away from danger.

4' Moraes forces the first save of the night, but Lopez easily saves his low left-footed drive in the Roma goal.

1' We are underway at the Stadio Olimpico!

The two teams are out on the pitch, kick-off is moments away!

Each of the previous six matches between Roma and Shakhtar Donetsk were played in the Champions League – Roma have won two matches while Shakhtar won four.

Fonseca makes four changes to the team that beat Genoa 1-0 last time out. Kumbulla, Spinazzola, Villar and Mkhitaryan come into the starting XI, with Smalling, Karsdorp, Bruno Peres and Borja Mayoral dropping out. Castro makes just one change to his team as Patrick replaces Marcos Antonio.

SUBS: Andriy Pyatov, Bogdan V'Yunnik, Manor Solomon, Heorhii Sudakov, Marcos Antonio, Dentinho, Valerii Bondar, Oleksiy Shevchenko, Sergey Krivtsov, Viktor Korniienko, Sergiy Bolbat, Yevhen Konoplyanka.

SHAKHTAR (4-2-3-1): Anatolii Trubin; Dodo, Vitao, Mykola Matvyenko, Ismaily; Maycon, Alan Patrick; Mateus Tete, Marlos Bonfim, Taison, Moraes.

SUB: Borja Mayoral, Riccardo Calafiori, Daniel Fuzato, Davide Santon, Carles Perez, Bruno Peres, Edin Dzeko, Ibanez, Antonio Mirante, Stephan El Shaarawy, Chris Smalling.

ROMA (3-4-3): Pau Lopez; Gianluca Mancini, Marash Kumbulla, Bryan Cristante; Leonardo Spinazzola, Gonzalo Villar, Amadou Diawara, Rick Karsdorp; Lorenzo Pellegrini, Pedro, Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

Roma come into the game in good form, having lost just one of their last eight in all competitions. Shakhtar's record is not too shabby either, with Luis Castro's side losing two of their previous seven.

Roma beat Sporting Braga 5-1 over two legs in the previous round, while Shakhtar proved too much for Maccabi Tel Aviv, and they progressed thanks to a 3-0 aggregate scoreline.

Good evening and welcome to our live coverage of Roma's last-16 clash with Shakhtar Donetsk in the Europa League. Former Shakhtar coach Paulo Fonseca will be trying to get one over on his former team with a place in the quarter-finals at stake.

Roma v Shakhtar Donetsk Live Commentary, 11/03/2021

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