Torino rode their luck a little and thanked goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic, who saved an Edin Dzeko penalty, as they knocked Roma out of the Coppa Italia.
The winners of this tie will face Juventus or Genoa in the Quarter-Final on January 3.
Torino rode their luck a little and thanked goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic, who saved an Edin Dzeko penalty, as they knocked Roma out of the Coppa Italia.
The winners of this tie will face Juventus or Genoa in the Quarter-Final on January 3.
The Giallorossi missed Gregoire Defrel and Rick Karsdorp, while Edin Dzeko and Alisson Becker were rested. Emerson Palmieri received his first start since tearing his knee ligament in May. Toro used an almost full-strength side, as Adem Ljajic and Cristian Ansaldi are injured, giving young forward Simone Edera a chance to shine after his goal in this stadium against Lazio last week.
It was a strong Granata start, as in the opening couple of minutes M’Baye Niang’s solo effort was deflected over and Andrea Belotti’s header from a corner smothered with some difficulty.
There was a huge Lukasz Skorupski one-handed save to deny Lorenzo De Silvestri’s header from an Edera free kick, but at the other end Stephan El Shaarawy unleashed a stunner from 25 metres that bounced off the underside of the crossbar, off the line and back out.
Cengiz Under should’ve done better, blasting over on the half-volley from 10 yards from Emerson’s cross.
Instead, Toro took the lead, as Roma were again very shaky on defending from a corner. Skorupski performed another miracle on Belotti’s totally free header, but could do nothing on De Silvestri’s follow-up.
Roma fought back immediately, but Milinkovic-Savic – the younger brother of Lazio midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic – got down very quickly to keep out Under’s low drive at the far post on a Gerson cross.
Straight after the restart, a long cross found El Shaarawy at the back post, but at full stretch he was somehow denied by a Milinkovic-Savic reaction save.
However, it should’ve been 2-0 on the hour mark when Edera fired over under pressure from Skorupski, sent clear on goal by Afriyie Acquah.
At the other end, Cengiz Under failed to meet a Kevin Strootman ball rolled across the face of goal, then substitute Diego Perotti forced a low save at the near post and from the corner Strootman turned inches wide.
Milinkovic-Savic beat away another Gerson snapshot and Patrik Schick’s header anticipated the goalkeeper only to clip the far post.
Just as Roma were pouring forward, Toro doubled their advantage with a long Alex Berenguer cross from the left going past Belotti for Edera’s header at the back stick. The young striker had already found the net at the Olimpico against Lazio earlier this month.
Edin Dzeko was thrown on and moments later Schick was gently tugged back by Emiliano Moretti for a very soft penalty. The substitute stepped up and giant Milinkovic-Savic continued his remarkable performance by saving the spot-kick.
Milinkovic-Savic also smothered a Lorenzo Pellegrini strike and Schick couldn’t redirect the Perotti pull-back, but with five minutes to go, Schick scored his first goal in a Giallorossi jersey. He controlled, spun round and fired the half-volley in to the near bottom corner from 12 yards.
Dzeko’s angled drive was beaten away, then the Bosnian’s free header flew over from a Bruno Peres cross, as their hopes of forcing extra time ebbed away. Deep into stoppages, Schick saw his effort deflected past the post and Roma failed to make the most of the final corner.
Roma 1-2 Torino
De Silvestri 39 (T), Edera 72 (T), Schick 85 (R)
Roma: Skorupski; Peres, Juan Jesus, Moreno, Emerson; Strootman (Dzeko 75), Gonalons, Gerson (Pellegrini 67); Ünder (Perotti 61), Schick, El Shaarawy
Torino: Milinkovic-Savic; De Silvestri, Lyanco, Moretti, Molinaro; Acquah, Valdifiori (Rincon 78), Obi; Edera (Boye 84), Belotti, Niang (Berenguer 72)
Ref: Calvarese
Saved penalty: Dzeko 77 (R)