Soulé and Pellegrini on target as AS Roma overpower Glasgow Rangers

There was admirable efficiency about the way Roma dealt with this journey to Glasgow. Minimum of fuss. The team from Italy’s capital did, nonetheless, meet favourable opposition when placing their European competition bid on the right path. Observers noted a glaring difference in class between the Serie A outfit and a Rangers side that has now lost a club record seven European games in a row.

To their credit, the home side at least fought hard during a second half when surrender felt the probable option. However, the match was settled as a contest at that stage. Rangers remain anchored at the bottom of the Europa League, which should represent an embarrassment to a club of this standing. The Giallorossi have ambitions again on making proper impact. Their only regret in this match was in not producing a result appropriately depicting men against boys.

Surprisingly, this marked only Roma’s second continental encounter with a team from Scotland since the historic Fairs Cup business with Hibs in 1961. Their last such match, against Dundee United 23 years later, became overshadowed (to put it mildly) by the bribing of a match official. In those days, Scottish clubs could compete with the best in Europe. The current campaign has seen the UEFA coefficient drop to a point that will soon have huge ramifications.

The new manager’s main quality so far as the Rangers support are concerned is that he isn’t Russell Martin. Martin’s ghastly tenure as the manager continued for just over four months in the early part of this season. Röhl, the recent appointment at the helm, has displayed potential albeit within a tiny sample size. The dugouts saw a clash of generations; the Rangers boss is 36, his opposite number the Roma manager is sixty-seven.

A further factor was much more noticeable as the sides took the field. Rangers’ obvious short stature against the visitors looked worrying. That concern was confirmed within 13 minutes as the Roma midfielder easily redirected a set-piece at the near post. At the back, the Argentine winger burst forward to fire Roma ahead. The visitors minus the unavailable Evan Ferguson and their star attacker, who have been criticised for lack of cutting edge even with reasonable results in this campaign, were delighted with their early advantage.

The Ibrox side should have equalised instantly. Rather, the forward screwed his shot wide after a mix-up in the visitors’ backline. Chermiti’s eight-million-pound signing from Everton has piled pressure on the club’s recruitment team. He has at least the physique to be an effective striker but appears reluctant or incapable to use them.

The Italian outfit dominated first-half the ball thereafter. Roma extended their advantage through Lorenzo Pellegrini, whose bent effort into the far post of the goalkeeper’s net arrived after a pass from Artem Dovbyk. The hosts will lament the fact the midfielder was left in blissful isolation but it was a gorgeous finish. The stadium, typically a boisterous place on continental evenings, had been silenced nine minutes before the break. The discontent which met the interval were subdued; the home team were clearly in the process of being outclassed.

The second period started against a curious atmosphere. Supporters turned their attentions for the latest time towards the club’s chief executive, Patrick Stewart, and sporting director, Kevin Thelwell. Two banners, obviously sinister in message, depicted the pair with bullseyes on their faces. One wonders what the club owner thinks about the situation. After all, Andrew Cavenagh enjoyed an anonymous career as a successful businessman in the US before fronting a acquisition of this club. Fans have not turned on Cavenagh yet but there is a mutinous mood around the club. It is one which is easy to understand; The team’s leadership is completely unconvincing.

As if scripted, Chermiti was sent through on goal on the 60-minute mark and hit the outside of the goal. This actually triggered the home side’s best period of the game, in which their substitute the young midfielder fired just wide. It was, nonetheless, hard to gauge Roma’s remaining offensive intent until Zeki Celik was given a opportunity all of a yard out which he inexplicably hit up and onto the underside of the crossbar.

That was it as far as clear-cut opportunity were concerned. The series of substitutions from each side meant this game closed more in the fashion of a pre-season friendly than serious contest. This of course suited the Italians fine. There was cause to consider how on earth the Glasgow club, runners-up in this tournament in recently and worthy of the quarter-finals a last year, arrived at the point of just participating.