AS Roma - Athletic Club

A cruel blow. With the scores at 1-1, Athletic, down to 10 men, were defending with all their hearts when Eldor Shomurodov netted in the 93rd minute. 

It was painful, especially after Iñaki Williams had put the Zurigorri ahead. But there is still life left in this tie, and plenty of it. We meet again at San Mames next week, where the Lions will need the home fans at their very best.

With the Stadio Olimpico bursting at the seams, tonight's game was a test of maturity, and at times a test of survival, against a great side Claudio Ranieri has put together.

The Lions started well, with European debutant Maroan Sannadi very active, but Paulo Dybala gradually found space and began to do some damage.

Artem Dovbyk almost gave Roma the lead early after a foot race with Dani Vivian which ended with the Ukrainian slipping over and the centre-back going off injured to be replaced by Aitor Paredes.

It could have got worse when Dybala hit the crossbar with a left-footed shot. Athletic were rattled, but they responded well. Yeray missed the target with a header from an Unai Gomez corner and the Williams brothers linked up well before finding Maroan, whose shot went wide.

Iñaki turned the game on its head when Paredes nodded another Gomez corner for the Ghanaian international to head home at the far post.

But the Italians had game and character. They reacted immediately and Angeliño equalised six minutes later.

Athletic were not fazed, they took the game to Roma and had a great chance to win with Oscar de Marcos and Iñaki catching the Romans off guard with a throw-in, but Alex Berenguer struck his effort over the bar.

Yeray's dismissal, which means he will miss the return leg, left the team down to ten with five minutes to go.

Shomurodov's strike, which needed to be checked by VAR for a potential offside, came just as it seemed Athletic would hold out.

Nobody said it would be easy. The Cathedral awaits next week.