Europa League – Bernardeschi and Pellegrini both score as Bologna draw 1-1 with Roma at home.
2026-03-13 08:30
In the first leg of the 2025/26 UEFA Europa League Round of 16, Bologna hosted Roma. After 90 minutes of intense play, the two sides drew 1-1.
Bologna and Roma traded attacks early on, but few of their strikes were truly threatening. In the 20th minute, Roma launched a quick counter-attack, but Brian Zaragoza's finishing was unfortunate. In the 44th minute, Federico Bernardeschi received the ball on the right side of the penalty area, dribbled laterally to create space, and then unleashed a curling shot that was brilliantly saved by Miller Svilal. In the second minute of first-half stoppage time, Juan Miranda's corner kick from the left was headed wide of the right side by Nicolo Casale inside the penalty area.
Shortly after the restart, Bologna finally broke the deadlock: in the 50th minute, Jonathan Rove dribbled past several players before delivering a cross, assisting Bernardeschi, unmarked on the right side of the penalty area, to calmly score. Both sides then missed a scoring opportunity: in the 53rd minute, Devin Rensch's long pass from midfield found Tangier Malen on the left, whose powerful shot was denied by the post. In the 60th minute, Bernardeschi's diagonal cross from the right found Tommaso Pobega one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but his shot was saved.
In the 71st minute, Malen, facing the onrushing Lucas Skorupski, chose to pass across the middle, and Lorenzo Pellegrini seized the opportunity to fire a shot into the net to equalize. Neither side managed to score again, and the final score remained 1-1.
Image source: Internet/Rome official website
