Roma's Europa League campaign suffered its first defeat as Slavia Prague dealt a shocking blow to last year's finalists
Czech side Slavia Prague pulled off one of the shocks of the UEFA Europa League Gameweek as they cruised to a surprise 2-0 victory over Roma to go top of Group G.
The European minnows reversed the score from the first leg against Roma, enacting revenge on Jose Mourinho’s men with a deserved victory.
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Goals from Vaclav Jurecka and Lukas Masopust were enough to seal a surprise result that leaves Roma second, but still with a great chance to qualify from the group.
How it happened
Roma had been critical of Serie A’s fixture placement ahead of games against Slavia on Thursday and Lazio on Sunday, and it was expected that Mourinho would rest some of his key players against the Czech side in Europe to focus on the league tie.
However, a strong Roma side lined up in Prague, with Romelu Lukaku, Andrea Belotti, Leandro Paredes, Houssem Aouar, and Diego Llorente all starting, while Paulo Dybala came off the bench midway through the second half.
Despite the firepower at their disposal, Roma were stunned early in the second half as Slavia's Jurecka gave Slavia the lead with a brilliant finish.
Roma brought on Argentine wizard Dybala in a bid to salvage the game, but things only went from bad to worse as Masopust doubled Slavia’s lead with a ferocious shot from outside the area.
Despite not resting big names for the tie, Roma appeared lethargic against Slavia, with players only on the pitch in body, but not soul.
After the second goal for Slavia, there was little by way of push back from Roma, and the Czech minnows saw out a famous win in Prague to leapfrog their visitors and sit atop Group G.
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