UEL | Roma 2-1 Midtjylland: First home victory ends perfect Danish record

Neil El Aynaoui and Stephan El Shaarawy gave Roma a much-needed first home victory in the Europa League, ending a perfect Midtjylland record.

The Giallorossi were Serie A leaders, but hadn’t brought that form to Europe, where they lost both previous home fixtures. On the other hand, the Danes were top of the Europa League table after four wins, missing Adam Gabriel, Edward Chilufya and Ovie Ejeheri. Paulo Dybala was surprisingly thrown straight into the starting XI after three weeks out and Daniele Ghilardi got his first start for the club, meaning only Artem Dovbyk and Angelino were still unavailable.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

It was the perfect start, as Zeki Celik floated in a cross from the right for Neil El Aynaoui to sweep in the volley from 12 yards, guiding it into the far corner with the right boot. It was his first goal for the club.

Manu Koné sprained his right ankle during an early tackle from Ousmane Diao and tried to stay on, but eventually limped off to make way for Bryan Cristante.

Kevin Mbabu twice sprinted back for well-timed challenges to stop Wesley and Lorenzo Pellegrini going clear, then the captain’s strike was deflected just wide after a Dybala back-heel flick.

After the restart, Mile Svilar smothered a hopeful Osorio attempt and Matias Soulé saw his left-foot curler skim the far post, while the goalkeeper got down to fingertip a low Dybala finish out of the far bottom corner.

Junior Brumado’s header hit the crossbar after a corner, but he was in an offside position anyway on 67 minutes.

Stephan El Shaarawy forced a tough save at the near post, but Roma began to look tired as the game wore on and Martin Erlic saw his ferocious strike charged down.

Bech Sorensen risked an own goal with his odd interception of a Kostas Tsimikas low cross, flicking it onto Bailey’s shin to ricochet wide from close range.

Roma finally did double their lead when El Aynaoui won back the ball in midfield and sent Bailey down the right, he rolled it across for El Shaarawy to sweep home relatively undisturbed from 12 yards.

However, Midtjylland kept them on their toes to the bitter end, as Aral Simsir got away from the disappointing Wesley and pulled back from the by-line for Paulinho’s angled drive.

El Shaarawy threatened to restore the two-goal cushion moments later, his strike from the edge of the area thumping the crossbar after a give and go with Bailey.

El Aynaoui 7 (R), El Shaarawy 83 (R), Paulinho 87 (M)