Roma broke the circuit to score more than two years in Europe
On the Red Bull Arena, the difference came in the 88th minute when Strahinja Pavlovic crossed from the left to Nicolas Capaldo's header to hit the ground diagonally to score for the home team. Roma goalkeeper Rui Patricio flew to his full height but could not save Roma. The 1-0 victory gave Salzburg some advantage, before going to Olimpico to play the second leg on February 23.
Reality on the field shows that Roma has up to five unbelievable opportunities as described by Mourinho. 24 minutes, from the left cross of Stephan El Shaarawy, Tammy Abraham headed the right position of goalkeeper Philipp Kohn. Two minutes later, the English striker headed off the post, after Nicola Zalewski's cross from the opposite wing. In the 43rd minute, Abraham still could not beat Kohn in the face of a corner shot. 73 minutes, Lorenzo Pellegrini corner kick for Bryan Cristante header from 4 m range. In the 81st minute, also from a corner, the substitute striker Andrea Belotti shot a close-range shot that was saved by Kohn.
"Roma also did not get a clear penalty in the first half. We were unlucky with the change of referee at the last minute," added Mourinho. The Portuguese coach mentioned that Swedish referee Glenn Nyberg had the flu, and was replaced by Denmark's Dennis Higler before kick-off.
Not only failed, Roma also lost their strength when Paulo Dybala left the field at the beginning of the second half because of a right thigh injury. "I don't know what happened. Dybala just told me that I was not eligible to continue playing," Mourinho updated on the situation of the Argentine striker.
According to Football Italy, Dybala will be examined more closely to determine the extent of the injury. With Nicolo Zaniolo and Eldor Shomurodov leaving in the January 2023 transfer window, Mourinho was left with few options in attack.
Roma had to play in the play-off after breaking through the narrow door with a 3-1 win against Ludogorets in the last round of the group stage to come second in C. Salzburg was in the group of teams that fell from the Champions League group stage, when they finished third in Group E, after Chelsea, Milan, and had to go down to the Europa League.
