#as-roma

#as-roma

Aston Villa are increasingly confident of securing a sensational return for Tammy Abraham, with club officials encouraged by the outcome of recent talks with the player's camp. According to Ben Jacobs, the 28-year-old striker is open to rejoining Villa Park, and the Premier League title challengers are prepared to offer him a long-term contract as part of their January rebuild.

According to a report from Fichajes, Barcelona are closely following the progress of Neil El Aynaoui, a midfielder who is currently enjoying an impressive spell with AS Roma. El Aynaoui, 24, is viewed as a player capable of contributing immediately while still offering long-term value. That dual profile is precisely what makes him appealing to Barcelona, a club that continues to search for balance between short-term competitiveness and sustainable squad building.

AS Roma are one of the biggest clubs in Italy and ended up having a successful season in the 2024-25 campaign. What looked like a campaign to forget was salvaged by then-manager Claudio Ranieri, guiding the team to a fifth-placed finish in the Serie A table. Gian Piero Gasperini is now the manager of Roma, who are playing in the UEFA Europa League this season.

The home side did not take long to open the deadlock, with a mistimed header at the back setting Matias Soule through on goal after 14 minutes, and he made no mistake with a curling finish beyond Daniele Sommariva. Roma scored a second just five minutes later, as Manu Kone burst from midfield and found the net with a side-footed effort, after fine play by Evan Ferguson in the build-up.

We leave football to one side in normal life. There's been a lot of talk about the game, maybe a little too much.

The reality is we were not able to cope with the intensity. First half was difficult, we were not able to come out of the pressure. It wasn't easy for my players. I don't like to talk about luck. The first goal didn't help us. The second half was better. I cannot tell you [the players] didn't try, they tried. I'm not concerned, I really liked the reaction. They deserve at least to score one goal and the dynamic could change.

An own goal from Liam Scales after six minutes set the tone for the Scottish Premiership side, with Evan Ferguson also scoring a brace as Roma wrapped up an emphatic win before the half-time whistle at Celtic Park. Roma took the lead from a set-piece as Matias Soule's corner was attacked by Gianluca Mancini, but Scales inadvertently headed the cross into his own net when looking to challenge the Italian defender.

Roma's manager has no connection to any of this, yet one Argentinian broadcaster included an old photo of him in their coverage. The segment for Telefe Noticias showed Gasperini's face between those of the accused and the deceased. A silly meme, circulated by football fans on social media to imply some (dubious) resemblance, confused as being authentic. The online version of the video was quickly taken down from YouTube, but not before it created a fresh set of headlines back in Italy.

Rangers suffered a fourth straight defeat to open their Europa League campaign after being swept aside 2-0 by Roma at Ibrox. The Scottish giants' dour run in Europe continued as Danny Rohl followed up a 3-0 defeat to Brann in his first game in charge with another disappointing result on Thursday. Rohl had built some optimism with back-to-back domestic wins over Kilmarnock and Hibernian, but he clearly has more work to do after this defeat and losing to Celtic in the Scottish League Cup semi-finals.

After failing to qualify for the Champions League, Rangers have lost all three games in the Europa League so far in what has been a disastrous start to the season. Russell Martin lasted just 17 games in charge, and there was no immediate new manager bounce as his replacement Danny Rohl took charge for the first time in the last round of Europa League fixtures, losing 3-0 to Brann.