Roma 3-4 Real Madrid

Roma threw away a 3-1 lead by conceding three embarrassing goals from corner kicks for a 4-3 home defeat to Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid, despite a Donyell Malen brace.

The Giallorossi started this tournament with a 1-1 draw away to Fenerbahce, but this was their first Champions League home fixture in over seven years and marked the return of Conference League-winning coach Jose Mourinho as an opponent.

Mile Svilar and Bryan Cristante were still out of action, so Pierluigi Gollini and Marten de Roon stepped in. Real Madrid missed Raul Asencio, Rodrygo, Eder Militao, Ibrahima Konaté and Ferland Mendy after beating Inter 2-1. Vinicius Junior found out hours before kick-off he’ll be suspended for four LaLiga games over a hair-pulling incident.

First half

It was an aggressive start from the hosts, Matias Soulé curling wide, then Thibaut Courtois needed a double save on the Paulo Dybala cross-shot and Mario Hermoso follow-up curler, which was fingertipped round the post at full stretch. Dybala prodded wide after a give and go with Nahuel Molina.

Roma suffered a blow after just 17 minutes when Manu Koné limped off in tears, replaced by Niccolò Pisilli.

The hosts took the lead from an unexpected source, as after Dybala won it back, a well-worked move saw it laid off by Soulé for the Marten de Roon scorcher from distance that took a deflection to wrong-foot Courtois under the bar in the 20th minute.

It was nearly 2-0, as Yan Diomande gave it away cheaply, so Donyell Malen’s ferocious strike squirmed under Courtois. Mario Hermoso then failed to intercept a through ball and Kylian Mbappé saw his effort take a big deflection off Gianluca Mancini’s shinpad to leave Gollini stranded for 1-1 in the 25th minute.

Marc Cucurella almost turned it around, while Roma had a series of corners that were not made the most of. On the stroke of half-time, Jude Bellingham dragged an angled drive just wide from 12 yards, meaning Real Madrid scored from the only shot on target in the first half.

Second half collapse

Dybala was replaced due to a muscular issue, replaced by Rodrigo Mora. Vinicius Junior gave it away playing out from the back with an ill-advised back-heel flick, so Mora immediately found Malen with a slide-rule pass, the finish deflected off Federico Valverde to bounce over Courtois for 2-1 in the 51st minute.

Roma counter-attacked after confusion when Bellingham went down under pressure from Mancini, and Malen scored on the Soulé through ball. The offside flag went up, but VAR confirmed Valverde was keeping him onside, so it was 3-1 in the 57th minute.

Pierluigi Gollini’s first real save was after the hour mark, using his legs to deny Mbappé from a tricky angle, then he kept his cool as Endrick ran at him and went down. Gollini also parried the Mbappé strike at the near post, then Mbappé dribbled around him to deposit into an empty net, but was offside.

Real Madrid had another goal chalked off for offside, but it was incorrect this time, as Carlos Espí was on when the corner was taken short and Gollini only parried an Endrick header into his path for 3-2 in the 83rd minute.

Moments later, Real Madrid scored an almost identical goal, this time with Endrick’s header directly from the corner to fly in at the near post and make it 3-3 in the 85th minute, assisted by Arda Güler.

Roma were a disaster defending from set plays and nearly conceded a fourth with Bellingham nodding wide on a corner. It got even worse in added time, as Antonio Rüdiger was allowed to volley in another corner at the back post, shrugging off Wesley and Leonardo Balerdi, assisted by Arda Güler, for 4-3 in the 90th minute.

Scorers

Roma 3-4 Real Madrid
De Roon 20 (R), Mbappé 25 (RM), Malen 51, 57 (R), Carlos Espi 83 (RM), Endrick 85 (RM), Rudiger 90 (RM)