Bologna hosted AS Roma tonight for the first leg of the Europa League round of 16. Both teams were hoping to avenge losses in Serie A on the weekend. This came as both teams were playing angry and looking for a win to get their form back on track.

This led to the start of the game being a skittish grudge match. Bologna and Roma both saw a player pickup a yellow card in the first 15 minutes. It was worse for Bologna as Juan Miranda picked up the yellow and will now miss the second leg.

A fairly even first half would end up scoreless in a physical battle. Both sides had good chances on either end mainly through counter attacks, but both failed to create a big one. This came as both Santiago Castro and Donyell Malen were kept quite by the opposing defences in the first half.

However, in the second half the game would blow open. Bologna managed to find a spark plug through Jonathan Rowe who had a magnificent second half. He would create more with the ball beating Roma defenders on the ground and opening up the Giallorossi’s defence.

Rowe would manage to create the opening goal of the game for Bologna. He bought the ball down from a long pass dribbled past four Roma players and threaded the needle to Federico Bernardsechi who would then finish beautiful across goal to give the Rossoblu the lead.

Roma would look to create an equaliser after Roma scored but started off with little success. Bologna was aiming to keep up some pressure but Roma would have more control in the game. However, Roma would manage to find their break through substitute Lorenzo Pellegrini.

Joao Mario would be unable to control a high ball which would bounce allowing Cristante to take it. He would then find Donyell Malen who would beat 3 Bologna defenders and force Lukasz Skorupski to dive allowing him to find Lorenzo Pellegrini with an open net to equalise.

Donyell Malen would have another big chance to score after beating two defenders and Skorupski one on one, however his shot would be deflected off the post. Meanwhile in the 88th minute Martin Vitik managed to beat Mile Svilar with a header but it went off the crossbar and out of play, leaving the game level until full time.

Player Ratings

Bologna

Jonathan Rowe – 7.5: Jonathan Rowe was my man of the match today as he was key for Bologna, throughout the game. He created most of their chances including the second goal were he found Federico Bernardeschi open on the left side of the box.

Lukasz Skorupski (5.5), Juan Miranda (6.5), Jhon Lucumi (5.5), Nicolo Casale (5.5), Joao Mario (6), Tommaso Pogeba (6.5), Remo Freuler (5.5), Lewis Ferguson (6), Federico Bernardeschi (7), Santiago Castro (6)

Roma

Donyell Malen – 7: Donyell Malen was on the end of the most of Roma’s chance while also being responsible for creating some of them. However, his performance lacked the clinical end product today which we have come to know him for with Roma so far this season.

Mile Svilar (6.5), Zeki Celik (5.5), Evan Ndicka (6.5), Daniele Ghilardi (6), Devyne Rensch (5), Neil El Aynaoui (5.5), Niccolo Pisilli (5.5), Wesley (6), Bryan Cristante (6), Bryan Zaragoza (5),

Atalanta hosted German giants Bayern Munich in the first leg of their round of 16 tie in the Champions League tie today. This was a chance for Atalanta to snap some poor form to build a lead before heading to Munich next week. However, the opposite would happen for Atalanta.

They would have a horror start to the game being dominated by Bayern Munich. It took the German side only 12 minutes to score off a short corner which saw Josip Stanisic find the back of the net. Bayern wouldn’t be satisfied with one goal however as they kept on pushing.

Michael Olise scored only ten minutes after Stanisic curling in a beautiful shot from the edge of the box. Serge Gnabry would score one on one only three minutes later to give Bayern a three goal lead before half an hour. Bayern Munich would keep the same goalscoring form up in the second half of the match.

It took Nicolas Jackson until only the 51st minute to find Bayern’s fourth. This was after a strong counter attack saw the ball fall to him inside the box for an easy bottom corner finish. It would take Bayern only 12 minutes after Jackson scored to find their fifth. This time it came from Michael Olise again scoring a similar goal to his first.

Jamal Musiala then came scoring Bayerns sixth only so minutes on the pitch after a cross from Nicolas Jackson. However, it wasn’t all bad for Atalanta as they did manage to get one goal back late. Mario Palasic scored in the 92nd minute for Atalanta giving them one goal back on Bayern’s lead. This will see them face a five-goal deficit when they travel to Munich next week.

The two Milan sides faced off today for the second Derby della Madonnina of the season. Inter Milan looked to write the wrongs of their loss earlier in the season. They started off on the right on foot to do so dominating most of the early game.

AC Milan would be able to create half chances but Inter dominated most of the half. This culminated in the 33rd minute where Henrik Mkhitaryan would break through Milan’s defence to be one-on-one with Mike Maignan.

But, Mkhitaryan put his shot to central making it an easy save for Maignan. This would be a wake up call for Milan who would then go on to score two minutes later.Youssouf Fofana would then find Pervis Estupinan with a through ball on the counter attack who would then smash in top left to give the Rossoneri the lead.

AC Milan would then manage to dominate the rest of the first half. They had more strong chances but wouldn’t be able to find a goal to double their lead. Inter  would go into their breaks a bit lost with how they let the game get away from them.

However, Inter came out for the second half on the front foot looking to equalise. Their best chance came in the 53rd minute by Federico Dimarco, but he would be unable to capitalize sending his shot over the bar. Inter Milan would keep on pushing for an equaliser but, they would be unable to score losing 1-0.

Player Ratings

AC Milan

AC Milans man of the match – Alexis Saelemaekers (8): Alexis Saelemaekers was my man of the match for Milan today, as he was key in the transition for the side. He was key for Milan running for all ninety minutes working hard on both sides of the ball to secure all three points.

Mike Maignan (7), Fikayo Tomori (6.5), Koni De Winter (6), Strahinja Pavlovic (7.5), Youssouf Fofana (7), Luka Modric (7.5), Adrien Rabiot (6.5), Pervis Estupinan (7), Rafael Leao (6.5), Christian Pulisic (7)

Inter Milan

Inter Milans man of the match (7.5) – Federico Dimarco took on Alexis Saelemaekers on the left hand channel on the pitch for Inter. While Saelemaekers probably got the best of Dimarco as he was forced to do defensive work. However, Dimarco still had a high attacking input for Inter today, while dealing with added defensive duties.

Yann Sommer (6), Yann Aurel Bisseck (5.5), Manuel Akanji (6), Alessandro Batoni (6.5), Luis Henrique (6), Nicolo Barella (6), Pitor Zielinski (5.5), Henrik Mkhitaryan (7), Ange Yoan Bonny (5.5), Pio Esposito (6.5)