Joel Pohjanpalo led Serie A champions Venezia as a guest of AS Roma. In the second period, Roma got level with luck.
Mika Halonen,
STT Sports
17:23•Updated 17:38
Finnish striker and captain of Venezia of Serie A, Italy’s main soccer league Joel Pohjanpalo continued his goalscoring streak by leading Venezia 1–0 in the away match against AS Roma.
Pohjanpalo’s goal was built when Venezia played a midfield free kick along the ground to the left wing. Venezia winger Ridgeciano Haps played a pass along the ground to the box, and through a clever pattern Gianluca Busio got to shoot.
Busio’s shot bounced off the back post and back onto the field, towards the penalty spot. There was Pohjanpalo, who loaded the ball from behind the traffic jam into the bottom left corner.
The Finnish skipper raised his finger and aired the familiar boisterously, this time at the legendary Olympic stadium in Rome, the Stadio Olimpico, which was opened in 1932.
Venezia led the match with Pohjanpalo’s goal in the 44th minute after the opening half. Even though Roma had 71% of the ball in the opening period, Venezia took the scoring attempts 13–7 and the expected goal score 1.20–0.51.
Last weekend, Pohjanpalo scored the first goal of his career in Serie A, when he scored 2-0 in the home win over Genoa.
It came from the bottom fire Perparim Hetemaj’n after the second Finnish player who has succeeded in scoring in the Italian men’s main series.
Roma’s lucky equalizer
In the second period, it was hard from end to end, until Roma got a lucky equalizer in the 74th minute. Bryan Cristante took a shot from 30 meters. The ball took a bounce from a Venezia player who slid in front and arched over the goalkeeper Jesse Joronen.
The match is in progress and the story will be updated…