By page Football Italy, AS Roma has up to 80% to win the match against rival Lecce. In the last 5 meetings, AS Roma were unbeaten against Lecce and they won 4 times. The Stadio Olimpico also became a fulcrum for the betel-colored team with a series of 5 consecutive wins.
Predictions about an easy victory for AS Roma became even more valid when the home team was awarded a penalty in the 3rd minute. However, striker Lukaku missed the opportunity to score. This is the first time since August 8.2017 that the Belgian striker missed a penalty kick after 15 attempts. Lukaku held his head in regret while coach Mourinho also pondered on the AS Roma training bench.
Lukaku missed the penalty kick in the 3rd minute
Despite receiving "cold water", AS Roma continuously created waves in front of Lecce's goal. However, AS Roma's strikers were at a deadlock. In the 72nd minute, AS Roma received another disadvantage when striker Pontus Almqvist put Lecce ahead. It seemed like the Italian capital team would suffer defeat at home, but in injury time of the second half, Sardar Azmoun and Lukaku scored 2 goals respectively, bringing 2 emotional points to AS Roma.
After the final whistle, coach Mourinho ran onto the field and excitedly celebrated with the players. He hugged Houssem Aouar and constantly thanked his student. After that, the "special person" came to Lukaku to comfort the Belgian striker.
Coach Mourinho (left) reached out to Lukaku to comfort him
The Portuguese coach explained the action on DAZN channel: "I want to talk to the players, because the match has not ended, the squad is unbalanced. We went back to the old philosophy, if you lost 0-1 or 0-10 it made no difference.
This is the first time Lukaku has missed a penalty in Italy, but it is the second time he has missed it while playing under my direction. However, only the person taking the penalty runs the risk of missing it. Dybala does not feel ready to play set-pieces and we put maximum trust in Lukaku.
I know him better than anyone, Lukaku is a very sensitive person and when he missed an early penalty it made his heart ache for the rest of the match. This is why scoring a last-minute goal couldn't have been better, because it will help Lukaku sleep better tonight and wake up with a smile."
Lukaku (No. 90) celebrates helping AS Roma come back
The emotional 2-1 victory helped AS Roma have 17 points and is only 4 points behind Napoli in 4th place. In the next round, coach Mourinho and his students will have a match that is expected to be difficult with city rival Lazio.
