Roma knocked Feyenoord out of the Europa League for the second season running after going through on penalties at the Stadio Olimpico, ending the Dutch side’s unbeaten run of 11 games.Both sides have become familiar with each other with this season being the third straight campaign they have met, and they got off to a frantic start with end-to-end action. Feyenoord edged the opening, taking the lead inside five minutes after Quilindschy Hartman’s cross was met by Bart Nieuwkoop, who went 50-50 with Stephan El Shaarawy and the ball ended up deflecting off Santiago Giménez and into the back of the Roma net.The home side, undeterred after falling behind early on, responded well and equalised around the quarter-hour mark as El Shaarawy picked out Lorenzo Pellegrini on the edge of the box and the Roma captain took a touch, and buried a curling effort into the far corner to restore parity. Daniele De Rossi immediately signalled for his team to be calm after drawing level, and his side did exactly that, whilst taking control of proceedings. Bryan Cristante and Pellegrini both missed chances to give the Giallorossi the lead later in the half as they went into the break level on the night and on aggregate.Roma came out for the second half and picked up where they left off prior to the interval, dominating possession but the final ball was lacking as Romelu Lukaku cut a frustrated figure due to a lack of service, and neither goalkeeper had been tested by the hour mark. As the half drew on, it looked like extra time was going to be the likely outcome with both teams struggling to break through the opposition defence. De Rossi was dealt a blow late on as Diego Llorente had to be stretchered off following a clash of heads.E pure st’anno ci siamo visti 👋#RomaFeyenoord pic.twitter.com/otoUb0F61H— AS Roma (@OfficialASRoma) February 22, 2024 With an additional 30 minutes, it was the Dutch outfit who looked stronger and more likelier to net a second goal on the night, with the Roma players tiring and left chasing shadows of their opponents. Despite Arne Slot’s men looking more dominant, they were unable to make it count as the Giallorossi defence managed to contain their opponent’s blunt attacking threat.##EDITORS_CHOICE##In the end, penalties were required to determine the winner of the Europa League tie. Mile Svilar proved to be the hero for Roma after making two saves from four spot kicks faced, and with Roma scoring four of their five, the Giallorossi progressed to Friday’s draw for the last-16 of the tournament.UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE – PLAYOFFSThursday Freiburg – Lens 3-2 (0-2) AET/Sallai 67, 90+2, Gregoritsch 99 – Da Costa 28, Wahi 45+2/Qarabag – Braga 2-3 (0-0) AET/Silva 102, Akhundzadze 120+2 – Fernandes 70, Djalo 83, Banza 115 pen/Rennes – Milan 3-2 (1-1)/Bourigeaud 11, 54 pen, 68 pen – Jovic 22, Leao 58/Toulouse – Benfica 0-0Roma – Feyenoord 1-1 (1-1)/Pellegrini 15 – Gimenez 5/Roma are through on penalties 4-2Sporting – Young Boys 1-1 (1-0)/Gyokeres 13 – Ganvoula 74 pen/Sparta Praha – Galatasaray 4-1 (1-1)/Preciado 8, Tuci 74, Haraslin 80, Kuchta 90+6 – Bardakci 16/Olympique Marseille – Shakhtar 3-1 (1-1)/Aubameyang 23, Sarr 74, Kondogbia 81 – Sudakov 12 pen/
