UEL | Roma 2-0 VfB Stuttgart: Marvellous Pisilli double for Europa dream

A marvellous brace from Niccolò Pisilli gave Roma victory over VfB Stuttgart to lock down at least a Europa League play-off, as they climb into the top eight.

This was a pure head-to-head for position, as both were on 12 points going into the penultimate round. Mario Hermoso, Artem Dovbyk, Stephan El Shaarawy and Angelino were injured, with new buys Donyell Malen and Robinio Vaz ineligible, despite the Dutchman scoring on his debut against Torino. Stuttgart had Bilal El Khannouss suspended, with Angelo Stiller, Dan-Axel Zagadou, Tiago Tomas, Jeremy Arevalo and Noah Darvich injured.

There was a special presence in the stands, as legend Francesco Totti was in the crowd almost three years since his last visit to the Stadio Olimpico.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

Maximilian Mittelstadt and Matias Soulé fired over from promising positions, but the first real chance saw Jamie Leweling’s low drive beaten away at the near post by Mile Svilar.

Roma took the lead just before half-time when Niccolò Pisilli ran onto the inspired Soulé through ball down the right and instead of rolling across, he surprised Alexander Nubel with a strike into the far top corner from a very tricky angle.

Lorenzo Pellegrini’s right-foot curler also tested Nubel, but after the restart Svilar had to be alert one-on-one with Deniz Undav and Soulé wasted a promising counter-attack from the resulting corner.

Stuttgart failed to make the most of a lucky ricochet on the Chris Fuhrich free kick that sent Undav clear, as the striker ballooned over the bar.

Lorenz Assignon’s snapshot didn’t surprise Svilar, but the goalkeeper had to be on his toes to deny Ermedin Demirovic from close range, Evan Ndicka desperately preventing a tap-in on the rebound.

Wesley swept his first-time finish over from a Devyne Rensch roll across, while Gianluca Mancini bravely threw himself in the way of Demirovic from seven yards on a Josha Vagnoman pull-back.

Deep into stoppages, Pisilli added another, as Paulo Dybala gathered with his back to goal and sent a disguised pass for the midfielder to smash into the roof of the net from 10 yards.