Roma 4 Brighton 0: Wasteful Seagulls’ Europa League hopes are all but over
ROMELU LUKAKU helped Roma demolish Brighton as he continues to taunt Chelsea.
The on-loan Blues striker scored his seventh in eight Europa League games as Mauricio Pochettino’s men are still in dire need of goals.
Paulo Dybala, Gianluca Mancini and Bryan Cristante were also on target, giving Roberto De Zerbi’s men a mountain to climb at the Amex next week.
The Seagulls, who have been decimated by injuries, have seen their season implode in the space of ten days as they crashed out to Wolves in the FA Cup before losing 3-0 to Fulham in the Prem.
The club’s biggest night in their history was also marred on Wednesday evening by the stabbing of two of their fans by a masked gang of thugs.
One of the victims, Jack, heroically made it to the stands despite getting ten stitches and walking on crutches.
Roma started brightly when Leonardo Spinazzola delivered a threatening cross to Chelsea loanee Romelu Lukaku, who stabbed Jason Steele in the hands with a header.
Brighton hit back as Simon Adingra turned and spun into the net before firing a shot, which bounced off the post off Evan N’Dicka.
Both sides prefer fluid movements, tactical flexibility and high energy with a fire in their bellies to fight for something bigger than themselves.
But Brighton looked a nervous wreck and Roma made them pay.
Paulo Dybala tore through the Brighton defense, while Lewis Dunk was caught napping, rounded Steele and into an empty net after 12 minutes.
The flag went up, but after a brief VAR check the Stadio Olimpico went berserk as the goal was awarded.
Brighton got another try, this time with Adringra swinging down the left flank and teeing up Welbeck, whose downward header stayed just short of goal.
Emotions flared when Jan-Paul van Hecke was shown a yellow card for overtaking Lorenzo Pellegrini.
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Dunk failed to deal with a long ball, miscontrolling the ball and giving Lukaku the opportunity to strike.
The Chelsea loanee raced forward and outwitted Dunk before hitting a fierce low drive past Steele on 43 minutes.
Brighton didn’t go into the break with their tail between their legs, and Welbeck sent a bullet header to Mile Svilar, who knocked him over.
De Zerbi replaced on-loan Barcelona forward Ansu Fati for Julio Enciso during the break, but the situation only got worse.
Steele again fired away Lukaku’s header, who could easily have made it 3-0.
However, Gianluca Mancini stopped with an outstretched leg and poked home a cross in the 65th minute as Brighton began to crumble.
Mancini celebrated by charging and bowing in front of the rowdy Roma fans.
There was a brief VAR check for offside, but the goal was given to Mancini by a whisker.
The mountain to climb became Everest when Stephen El Shaarawy tapped the ball to Bryan Cristante, who was clear of Igor Julio and nodded past Jason Steele on 69 minutes.
Dunk almost redeemed himself by firing a dipping and curling shot over the bar after a desperate scramble in the penalty area, but it was not to be.