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Vucinic wins the game for Roma against Real Madrid
Posted - 6th March 2008
AS Roma went into last night's away match, in the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, against Real Madrid confident. They had won the first leg 2-1 in Rome's Olympic stadium, and their form has been generally good in Serie A (where they are currently in second place). Equally to the point, the team have been rejuvenated by their controversial draw against Inter Milan at the end of February (controversial, because Roma defender Mexes was sent off for picking up two careless yellow cards), and by the fact that Inter seem to be stalling - opening up the remote possibility of a scudetto win. If you want to talk about momentum, Roma have got it in spades at the moment.
And early this morning (4.30am local time), at Rome's Fiumicino airport, you could have been forgiven for believing that Roma were returning from a Champions League final, rather than knock out stage, given the huge crowd of delirious fans gathered. Perhaps it was because of Milan's knock out on Tuesday night against Arsenal, or more likely yet another exorcism of that terrible night in April last year when Roma were obliterated by Manchester United in the Champions League at Old Trafford. Either way, the fans were out to celebrate, and the man of the moment was Mirko Vucinic, the Montenegrin striker who scored the decisive goal, and created much of the play for Roma when he entered the match midway through the second-half.
Vucinic has had his ups and downs in Serie A with Roma this year - when in form, he is often the brightest talent on the pitch, full of energy, imagination, and class. His goal-scoring record this season shows, though, an unpredictability in form - he's scored just three goals thus far in Serie A this season (like his team-mates Taddei, Aquilani, and Perotta, while Mancini has double that). Admittedly, he's often brought on late, to replace Mancini, but he did get a spell of starts while Francesco Totti was injured, that did not bring a full return for his obvious committment when on the pitch. It may be, though, that the atmosphere in the Champions league has something to do with it - Vucinic has scored 4 goals in six matches in the competition.
Last night the Montenegrin was in form, and when he came on as substitute for Mancini just twenty minutes into a deadlocked 0-0 second half (despite plenty of chances for both teams, with Roma having the upper-hand)he set to work to change things almost single-handedly. Within seconds his first attempt on goal hit the crossbar. In the thick of the action he forced Madrid's Pepe into a second-yellow-card tackle. reducing the Spanish team to ten men at a critical stage of the game (there should be question marks about the referee, who dished out eigh yellow cards over the night, disrupting the flow of the game at every oportunity).
It was Taddei, though, who scored the first goal, heading in a cross from Tonetto, putting all the pressure on the Spanish team to deliver - something which, surprisingly, they did just minutes later. Robson de Souza, better known in these parts as Robinho played in a ball for Raul (who, as is so often the case on the big occasions, had been noticeably absent from the game), who took the chance well leveling the score - but 1-1 still left the Spanish team with all the work to do after the first leg result of 2-1 had gone in Roma's favour. Real desparately searched for the goal that would force the game into extra-time - leaving themselves vulnerable to Roma's deadly counter-attack.
It became academic though, as Vucinic headed in a free kick from Cristian Panucci in injury time sealing Roma's place in the Champions League quarter-finals. Daniele De Rossi, speaking to the press after the game underlined Roma's chances for silverware this season - they're in the quarter-finals of the CHampions League, in the Semi Finals of the Coppa Italia, and six points behind Inter Milan for the scudetto.
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