Tammy Abraham Only Goal Fires Jose Mourinho's Roma Into First Ever Europa Conference League Final

AS Roma defeats Leicester City 1-0 to advance to the Europa Conference League final courtesy of Tammy Abraham only goal.

The game the Stadio Olimpico did not look like a third-tier match as it was played in front of a crowd of 63,940.

Roma welcomed Leicester to Stadio Olimpico for the second leg of their semi-final tie on Thursday night, with the aggregate score locked at 1-1 after the first leg at the King Power Stadium a week ago.

 

The Italian team continued in their fine start, on the night, taking the lead in the 11th minute through Tammy Abraham who rose highest to head home from a Lorenzo Pellegrini corner kick.

It was Abraham's ninth goal in the Conference League and his 25th of the season in 49 games across all competitions, as he continues his impressive form with the Italians this season since joining from Chelsea for £34 million in August last year.

READ MORE: "Give Me Real Madrid, I Have A Score To Settle" — Liverpool Star Mo Salah. 

Leicester didn't offer too much in attack, though Brendan Rodgers' side sought to push late on, but the Foxes struggled to break down Roma's defence.  

Mourinho's men held onto their one goal advantage in expert fashion to secure a 2-1 aggregate victory, book a place in the showpiece event final.

Abraham further went on to express his delight after the final whistle, telling BT Sport: "Before the game started, the fans won us this game. We could hear them before getting into the stadium and throughout the warm-up. We weren't even on the pitch and we heard them. The win was for them and my team. Hopefully we can go all the way... Said the 24-year-old.

"My job is to be active around the box. That's the kind of striker I am. Whenever I sniff an opportunity I try to take my chance. I'm not the best at heading but today was a pretty good one.

"It was a bit of a surprise Ricardo Pereira was marking him but it doesn't matter who is marking me, if I sniff a chance I have to go for it.

"I tried and my team tried. You had to give your all. We left everything out there. In the last couple of minutes I couldn't breathe. He Mourinho told me to keep going and we did that."

Mourinho too has not spoken too kindly about the Europe's third-tier competition. He said last week that Roma vs Leicester was a fixture that was "too good to be Conference League."

The Portuguese tactician, becomes the first ever manager to reach the Finals of all the Three UEFA Club Competitions in the History of Football (Champions League, Europa League, and the Conference League) respectively.

🚨 Jose Mourinho has become the first ever manager to reach the Finals of all the Three UEFA Club Competitions in the History of Football (Champions League, Europa League, Conference League)🏆!

The Special One 🐐#UCL #UEL #UECL pic.twitter.com/4J8lwvkpBc

— CloudNine Sports (@cloudninesports) May 5, 2022

Roma's opposition in the final will be Feyenoord, who secured a 0-0 draw against Marseille at the Stade Vélodrome on Thursday to give them a 3-2 victory over two legs.

Nigerian international Cyriel Dessers had scored twice against Marseille at the De Kuip Stadium in Rotterdam, which takes Feyenoord into their first European final in 20 years.

The 25-year-old is currently the top scorer in the Europa Conference League with 10 goals. His closest challenger, Tammy Abraham is on nine (9) goals in the final at Tirana as both players face each other in the final.

The Dutch outfit will be slight underdogs when they meet the Giallorossi in the final.

The inaugural Conference League final on Wednesday, May 25 will be played in more modest surroundings as Tirana's 22,500-seater Air Albania Stadium (Arena Kombëtare) has been selected as the venue.