Reuters
[Source: Reuters]
Mats Wieffer scored a second-half winner to hand hosts Feyenoord a 1-0 home victory over AS Roma in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final in Rotterdam, after he had given away a first-half penalty.
Wieffer struck a bouncing half volley from outside the box in the 53rd minute for the game’s only goal and a narrow advantage for the Dutch league leaders in the return leg in the Italian capital next week.
It turned the night into a triumph for the 23-year-old, capped last month for the first time by the Netherlands, after he had conceded a penalty before halftime after tugging on Roma striker Tammy Abraham.
Leonardo Spinazzola hit the 43rd-minute spot kick against the upright to waste an opportunity for a potentially vital goal in a tightly contested tie at the Feyenoord Stadium.
Wieffer’s goal was set up by an incisive run down the left by winger Oussama Idrissi, who dribbled into the box before laying the ball back.
Feyenoord skipper Orkun Kokcu and Lutsharel Geertruida both had good chances to add to the home side’s score while Roma were denied an equaliser by the slimmest of margins nine minutes after conceding.
Defender Roger Ibanez’s header hit the underside of the bar but goal-line technology ruled his effort had not completely crossed into the net.
Roma suffered two serious injury setbacks after Paulo Dybala went off early, followed early in the second half by Abraham who suffered a shoulder injury.
Last season, Jose Mourinho’s team beat Feyenoord 1-0 in the final of the inaugural Europa Conference League.
The second leg of this tie is next Thursday at Rome’s Olympic Stadium.
The winner meets either Bayer Leverkusen of Germany or the Belgian club Union Saint Gilloise in the semi-final.
