English
Albania: Coach Jose Mourinho added another feather to his cap as AS Roma defeated Feyenoord 1-0 in the UEFA Europa Conference League final here at Tirana Air Albania stadium. Feyenoord started the match on Wednesday night with a strong attack as they pushed as high up the pitch as they could.
Roma’s Portuguese midfielder Sergio Oliveira had an early appearance as he was substituted in for Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the 16th minute.
Roma took the lead in the 32nd minute after Gianluca Mancini found midfielder Nicolo Zaniolo, and the latter brought the ball down and deftly flicked it beyond Feyenoord goalkeeper Justin Bijlow, reports Xinhua.
Zaniolo, 22, is the youngest Italian player to score in a final of a major European competition since Alessandro Del Piero in a UEFA Champions League match in May 1997.
Feyenoord strengthened their attack after half-time, but a 50th-minute attempt was saved well by Roma goalkeeper Rui Patricio.
Feyenoord kept on pressing, and in the 62nd minute Tyrell Malacia picked a pass for Reiss Nelson, but the Englishman did not catch his effort smoothly and Roger Ibanez snuffed out the danger.
The Italian team kept the lead to the end to win the first-ever edition of the UEFA Europa Conference League.
In doing so, Roma coach Jose Mourinho became the first manager to win all three major European titles (UEFA Europa Conference League, UEFA Champions League, and UEFA Cup/Europa League).
Inputs from IANS
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