sport news Roma 2-1 Spezia: Paulo Dybala scores penalty to seal a Europa League berth for ... trends now
Paulo Dybala scored a 89th minute penalty to seal a Europa League berth for Roma next season, as they defeated Spezia 2-1 in a dramatic game at the Stadio Olympico on Sunday night.
The result means relegation threatened Spezia will face off against Hellas Verona in a relegation play-off next week, despite taking the lead in the game through Dimitris Nikolaou's header after just six minutes.
Mourinho's side needed a win tonight to see them stay clear of Juventus who trailed them at the start of the match in seventh place by a point. While Max Allegri's team beat Udinese, they will now finish seventh in the Serie A standings, with Roma claiming the final Europa League spot.
Despite securing sixth in the league, Roma suffered a big blow as Tammy Abraham suffered a nasty looking knee injury and was removed from the field looking in some pain.
While questions remain over whether Mourinho will stay at the Serie A club, if he is to leave, his departure may have not have come quite how he may have envisioned it.
The 60-year-old has been heavily criticised this week after he stepped over the line firing abusive language towards referee Antony Taylor following Roma's Europa League final loss to Sevilla.
And while he has since been charged by UEFA, he was not on the touchline at the Stadio Olympico tonight, as he serves a ban having received his fifth yellow card of the season during his side's 2-1 defeat by Fiorentina last week.
Despite that, fans inside the Stadio Olympico applauded the head coach, letting out a huge cheer when the Italian's name was announced over the tannoy, before revealing a banner that read 'We are with you Mou'.
While it's been a difficult week for Roma following their agonising defeat on Thursday, it was clear they were still feeling the effects from that final, going a goal down within six minutes of kick-off.
Spezia pumped a free-kick inside Roma's penalty area with Medhi Bourabia collecting the ball on the right-side of the box.
Showing some excellent vision, he swing a fast cross into the far corner of the six yard box, with Nikolaou meeting the ball with his head, pumping it into the ground and past Mile Svilar in net to score his first goal of the season.
Spezia were given a let off soon after, with Stephan El Shaarawy deflecting a threatening 25-yard effort onto the cross bar. The Italian was one of four replacements for Roma following their midweek defeat, replacing Leonardo Spinazzola, while Abraham, Rui Patricio and Nemanja Matic also started on the bench.
The home side started to grow into the game a little more, taking the lion's share of possession, but struggled to create chances. Andrea Belotti arrived inside the penalty area twice in quick succession putting his hands up for two penalty shouts, claiming for a hand ball on both occasions. Neither were given.
El Shaarawy too had a more substantial penalty shout soon after, breaking through before clashing with Kelvin Amian Adou inside the penalty area and going to ground. Again the referee waved play on.
Paulo Dybala would epitomize Roma's
