League Phase opener ends in comfortable away victory
Roma U19 booked their place in the next round with a 4-2 victory over Fenerbahçe U19 in the opening League Phase match on Wednesday. The Romans took control early and never looked back after their opponents went down to ten men before half-time.
And here's the thing about how this unfolded — Roma struck twice in quick succession to build an unassailable lead. Ekici found the net in the twenty-ninth minute, then Kok added a second just three minutes later. By then Fenerbahçe were already reeling from a disciplinary blow.
The turning point came when U.Y. Satik received a red card in the thirty-sixth minute. To be fair, the hosts had been disciplined before — Ozdemir and Yilmaz both picked up yellow cards — but losing a player so early changed everything. Roma controlled possession at 62 per cent and registered nine shots on target to three.
Roma extended their advantage through the second half. Marchetti scored in the fifty-seventh minute before Guaglianone made it 4-1 in the seventieth. The visitors were always looking dangerous, with 144 attacks compared to Fenerbahçe's 105.
Fenerbahçe pulled one back late on through Maccaroni in the eighty-fifth minute, but Falcetta sealed the result with a late goal in the eightieth — though the sequence suggests the Italians were already comfortable. The statistics tell the story: nine shots on target against three, seven corners to none.
By then the game had been decided. Roma's youth side showed tactical maturity, exploiting the numerical advantage with precision. Fenerbahçe's recent form — losses in their last two fixtures — did nothing to prepare them for this encounter.