Roma, who had been honored by the last UEFA Europa League, had a sad performance in this year's UEFA Europa League. In the early hours of Friday morning (7), Roma hosted Betis in Group C and lost 1-2, leaving them third in the group with only three points from three matches. Manager Molenu admitted after the match that his team's goal is to compete for the second place in the group.
Despite Roma's impressive performance, Paolo Parlott gave his team the first lead in the 34th minute with a penalty kick. However, just six minutes later, Bedis midfielder Gudulo Digus equalized with a long-range shot. Late in the match, a header by Reiss Hendricks made it 1-2 in favor of Betis, while Roma midfielder Nicolò Ciniolu was sent off in stoppage time for kicking a man out of control, which ended Roma's unbeaten streak of 20 consecutive European matches at home.
Roma are currently in third place in Group C, a far cry from all-time winners Bedis and one point off Ludogorets, who are second in the group. Moleno said in his post-match interview, "The draw was a reasonable result, and regarding whether or not to be relegated back to the UEFA Europa League, I think we should remain in the UEFA Europa League, and our goal is to finish second in the group." It is worth mentioning that the first place in the UEFA Cup group can directly advance to the round of 16, while the second place in the group will need to go through the play-offs to qualify, and the opponents will be the teams from the UEFA Europa League.
