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AS Roma exercised the demons of two years ago and clinched their first victory in Group E on Tuesday by overcoming CFR 1907 Cluj courtesy of second-half strikes by Philippe Mexes and Marco Borriello. CFR had inflicted a shock 2-1 defeat on the Giallorossi when they last met at the Stadio Olimpico two seasons ago, but the tables were turned as Roma won by the same scoreline. However, the Serie A side had their work cut out against Sorin Cartu's side, who twice struck the woodwork through Lacina Traore and pulled a goal back through Ionut Rada (78). Just as Roma looked to be losing their way they took the lead, Pizarro cutting a clever corner back to Mexes, who fired past Claro through a crowded penalty area in the 69th minute - the France defender's first goal in European football. Roma's second came two minutes later and was even more direct, but Borriello showed great skill to volley De Rossi's hopeful ball into the far corner. Undaunted, the Romanian champions fought back and Rada's goal was the least they deserved, the midfielder rising to power Culio's free-kick past Lobont. Despite the best efforts of Dica and Cristian Panin, though, the hosts held out. "I think we put in a strong performance even if we were lucky when [Lacina] Traore hit the bar. He's a dangerous young forward but fortunately he opted to shoot when he had a team-mate unmarked in front of the goal. We knew CFR would play like this, defending and using the counterattack, so I wasn't happy that we gifted them three clear chances and it was bad to concede when the game was all but over", Claudio Ranieri, Roma coach said after the game. In his turn, Sorin Cartu, CFR Cluj coach said: "At such a high level when you miss such golden scoring opportunities you get punished. We hit the post; they scored. That's football and generally speaking Roma deserved to win even if we played well. If we had scored with our first chance, or in the 6th minute when we hit the woodwork, the outcome of the match would have been different". |
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