Bayer Leverkusen is undefeated at home in Bay Arena this season (3-1-0), including a 3-nil pasting of Real Madrid. They have not, however, won on the road yet (0-1-3). Too bad this match is on their turf. We'll be without the services of 6 players: Pelizzoli (groin) Dacourt (knee) Chivu (foot) Tommasi (knee) Mido (back) Mexes (2nd of 2-match suspension) We need this CL win in a bad way....
********in a, 2-1 to Leverkusen and Panucci was just sent off for "raising his elbow" going for a header according to Uefa.com, I hope he actually elbowed the guy and drew blood. Not that I like Roma players to do so but I hate being screwed over by refs.
Oh dear, Roma looses 3-1 and has two men sent off. Stick a fork in them, they're done! The might not even make it to the UEFA Cup.
Yikes, just when everybody was getting optimistic with Del Neri in charge, this ugliness. De Rossi (whose maturity and class was praised so much last week by Lippi) reminds us of his true age by getting a late red card, so he'll miss the next game, too.
We got hosed by the ref (re: Panucci), but we did not help ourselves either with the De Rossi incident. Del Neri regrets red cards Tuesday 19 October, 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gigi Del Neri maintains Roma would have earned a result in Leverkusen if Christian Panucci had not been sent off. “My real regret is failing to go 2-0 up with Simone Perrotta before the break, plus not being able to play the second half on level terms,” he said after the 3-1 defeat in Germany. “We have a very young team and they did their best, struggling as it was logical to do so in Leverkusen, but losing Panucci to that red card at that precise moment in time cut us down totally.” The Giallorossi had just seen a perfectly valid goal disallowed when Panucci was red carded for jumping with his elbow out, although it did not seem to be an intentionally violent foul. “With the 4-4-2 system and a bit more patience we looked good to get back into it,” continued the Coach, “but Panucci was sent off and that put paid to that.” Roma ended the game with nine men after Daniele De Rossi’s extremely petulant and pointless kick on Jacek Krzynowek. “Had De Rossi not been sent off at the end then we could have tried to put in some crosses for Mido and even then we nearly grabbed a point when Francesco Totti hit the crossbar.” Totti’s deflected goal had given Roma the lead, but once again they crumbled after the break and now even capturing that third UEFA Cup spot is going to be incredibly difficult. “Let us hope that we can now reorganise certain areas, including psychologically, and learn from this match.” Roque Junior’s goal was probably offside and Leandro Cufre’s potential equaliser was not, but Del Neri refused to blame the referee. “That isn’t much of a consolation, especially as in football these things happen and you can’t mull on them. I thank the lads for fighting for a result, as that was the important thing.” Del Neri was dealing with injuries and suspensions, but surprisingly gave youth product Giuseppe Scurto his senior debut. “This was certainly a memorable day for me,” said the 20-year-old who is yet to make his first Serie A appearance, “as making your debut in the Champions’ League is special for every player. I can’t help but be happy despite the result.” “I only knew after lunch today that I would play, but I’ve been training with the first team for the last two years and my teammates helped me prepare. I thank them and Coach Del Neri for having faith in me.”
The ref completely screwed Roma. Roque Junior's goal should have been disallowed for offsides and Cufre's should have stood. The red card on Panucci was quite harsh as well. While De Rossi was entirely at fault for his red I doubt he would have committed that foul had the officials got either one of those offsides calls correct. Even if Roma somehow manages to win their next three champions league matches (not to likely with De Rossi and Panucci now suspended) they'll need some luck in the results of the matches between the other teams who are all on 6 points.
The news I've read looks like Roma didn't play badly. I didn't see the game. Can anyone who saw it, provide some comments on how Roma played? Did the defense look better? Did Totti play well? How was Cassano?
Leve had more chances to score and were the much better side throughout. Roque Junior's goal is certainly onside, those who said he's offside just didn't watch the game or maybe confuse him with Juan(the bald guy who's offside but didn't touch the ball) To be fair, the 2nd should have been disallowed as Berbetov tripped a roma player before Joan took the ball and made a pass to Krzynowek. anyway, full match can be downloaded at http://football.hn.org:6969/index.html