Roma secured a comprehensive 4-0 victory over Ukrainian minnows Zorya Luhansk in the European Conference League. With this, Roma booked itself a spot in the knockout stages of the competition with one game remaining, occupying the second spot behind FK Bodo/Glimt in Group C.
The undisputed star of the night was English international Tammy Abraham, who scored a scintillating brace, one which included an outrageous overhead kick.
Playing at Stadio Olimpico, the home team looked menacing right from the outset. Before getting his name on the scoresheet, Abraham, however, looked pretty abysmal in front of the goal.
Failing to capitalize on a beautiful Zaniola cross, he missed a simple tap-in during the 3rd minute of the game with only the goalkeeper to beat.
Tammy missed an absolute sitter against Zorya
However, goals from Charles Perez and Nicolo Zaniola made it 2-0 by halftime.
Immediately after the restart, the ex-Chelsea player got his redemption after Zaniola set him up for a simple tap-in. Abraham didn’t disappoint this time and got his team’s third goal of the night.
Even so, Abraham’s shining moment came with 15’ minutes to go. Henrik Mkhitaryan’s shot gets somehow deflected up in the air, and Abraham, seeing the opportunity, launches himself midair.
He connects with the ball and shoots with accuracy rather than power. Suffice to say, the ball whirls beyond the goalkeeper’s reach and into the net. Roma has 4 goals, while Zorya seems to be giving up the struggle at 0.
Although Jose Mourinho’s reaction to Abraham’s overhead goal exuded frustration, there’s no doubt that the Roma manager would be pleased with the team’s overall performance. With this victory, Roma extended their unbeaten run of 16 matches on home turf in all of the European competitions.
