Roma 2-1 Spezia: Paulo Dybala scores penalty to seal a Europa League berth for Roma in dramatic game

Paulo Dybala scored an 89th-minute penalty to seal a Europa League berth for Roma next season, as they beat Spezia 2-1 in a dramatic game at the Stadio Olympico on Sunday night.

The result means that relegation-threatened Spezia will face Hellas Verona in a relegation play-off next week, despite taking the lead after just six minutes with a header from Dimitris Nikolaou.

Mourinho’s side needed a win tonight to keep them clear of Juventus, who left them one point behind in seventh place at the start of the game. While Max Allegri’s team defeated Udinese, they will now finish seventh in the Serie A standings, with Roma claiming the last spot in the Europa League.

Despite securing sixth place in the league, Roma suffered a major blow when Tammy Abraham suffered a nasty knee injury and was taken off the field in some pain.

While it remains to be seen whether Mourinho will stay with the Serie A club, his departure may not be quite as he imagined when he does.

The 60-year-old has been heavily criticized this week for going overboard and firing abusive language at referee Antony Taylor following Roma’s Europa League loss to Sevilla.

And although he has since been charged by UEFA, he was not on the sidelines at the Stadio Olympico tonight as he is serving a suspension after receiving his fifth yellow card of the season during his side’s 2-1 defeat to Fiorentina week.

Despite this, fans at the Stadio Olympico applauded the head coach and let out a huge cheer as the Italian’s name was announced above the tannoy, before unveiling a banner reading ‘We are with you Mou’.

Although it was a tough week for Roma after their embarrassing defeat on Thursday, it was clear they were still feeling the effects of that final, conceding a goal within six minutes of kick-off.

Spezia pumped a free kick into the Roma penalty area, while Medhi Bourabia collected the ball on the right side of the box.

Showing excellent vision, he swung a quick cross into the far corner of the box, with Nikolaou meeting the ball with his head, pumping it into the ground and into the net past Mile Svilar to score his first goal of the season.

Spezia was awarded a free kick soon after, with Stephan El Shaarawy deflecting a menacing effort from 25 yards onto the crossbar. The Italian was one of four substitutes for Roma after their midweek defeat, replacing Leonardo Spinazzola, while Abraham, Rui Patricio and Nemanja Matic also started on the bench.

The home side started to grow into the game a bit more and took the lion’s share of possession, but struggled to create chances. Andrea Belotti arrived in the penalty area twice in quick succession and raised his hands for two penalty cries, claiming a handball on both occasions. Neither were given.

El Shaarawy also received a more substantial penalty cry soon after and made his breakthrough before colliding with Kelvin Amian Adou in the penalty area and going to ground. Again the referee allowed play to continue.

Paulo Dybala would epitomize Roma’s frustrations in the first half when he failed to find the back of the net and hit another long shot, but a menacing shot over the crossbar. But that was largely a testament to Spezia’s defence, with Leonardo Semplici’s side largely frustrating the Europa League finalists in the opening 45 minutes.

But Roma would finally break the deadlock just before half-time, with Zalewski swinging a curling ball into the penalty area. Bove seems to break free and shoots the ball into the back of the net. He rolled away and appeared to claim his teammate’s goal, but on a second impression it was hard to tell if he had made contact or even changed the direction of the ball’s flight.

In any event, Roma were set to go in at half-time after fighting their way into the game, but should have been a few goals ahead, with 71 per cent possession and 10 attempts on goal in the first half.

Roma got off to a much better start in the second half, with Zalewski again proving a handful and playing a superb pass over goal to Lorenzo Pellegrini, who just couldn’t quite wrap his foot around the ball to tap in.

Belotti was substituted in the 63rd minute, meaning he would end his first season with Roma having failed to score a Serie A goal despite making 30 league appearances this season. He would be replaced by Abraham, who, like Mourinho, has been heavily linked with a departure from the club.

But midway through the second half, news trickled through the stadium that Juventus had scored, knocking Roma out of the Europa League places and frustrations soon began to boil over on Roma’s touchline in a frantic few minutes.

Nzola could have made it 2-1 for Spezia as he arrived in the penalty area to meet a Szymon Zurkowski cross, but his shot went over the crossbar. Roma, meanwhile, went up the other side of the field, with Dybala breaking through to receive the ball inside the penalty area, only to get caught up in Arkadiusz Reca and appeal to the referee for a penalty, but to no avail.

The Argentine was in the heat of the action just five minutes later, receiving a yellow card for clashes with several opposing players, before testing Jeroen Zoet into the net with a stunning effort from outside the box, arguably the chance of the contest.

The Spezia goalkeeper would deprive Roma of another chance soon after, but after several penalties during the game, El Shaarawy drove into the penalty area and was brought down by Amian, who received his second yellow card and was sent to the stands.

Dybala converted the pressure kick by sending his shot into the top left corner and scored his 12th league goal of the season.

Eight minutes of stoppage time were added but Spezia couldn’t muster an equalizer and will go into a relegation play-off next week with Hellas Verona after they were beaten 3-1 by AC Milan.