GIALLOROSSI YORKSHIRE BLOG
Henrikh Mkhitaryan drew the headlines on Sunday as the winger scored on his Roma debut, the third goal in a 4-2 win over Sassuolo.
Voted man of the match on the club's Twitter account, despite Lorenzo Pellegrini claiming the plaudits in Giallorossi Yorkshire's review, Mkhitaryan joins an elite list of players to have found the net in their first game for the club - with legends such as Rodolfo Volk, Roberto Pruzzo and Pedro Manfredini all having done the same in the 20th Century. More recently, several players have also started on the front foot with a debut goal for Roma. Here are the last 10 to do so. Henrikh Mkhitaryan v Sassuolo (15/9/19)
Mkhitaryan made a positive first impression to his new home crowd on Sunday, becoming the 58th player to score on their Roma debut. The experienced Armenian announced himself to Serie A by firing in a left-footed shot after being teed up by a perfectly-timed through ball from Lorenzo Pellegrini. As a big name signing (not just in terms of spelling...), the 30-year-old lived up to the expectations early on, and now must continue in the same vein.
Aleksandar Kolarov v Torino (20/8/18)
Playing behind 'Micki' on the left flank was veteran full-back Kolarov, who had been the last player to score on their first Roma appearance. Kolarov's signing was met with a mixed reception, with some diehard fans unhappy about his past association with Lazio. What better way to endear himself to the skeptical supporters by scoring the winning goal on the first day of the season? And it wasn't just any goal - it was a genius free kick struck under the wall, that caught everybody by surprise and gave Roma the win.
Stephan El Shaarawy v Frosinone (30/1/16)
To continue the theme of left-sided players scoring on their debuts, we go back to 2016 to reminisce about El Shaarawy's scorpion flick against Frosinone. Signed on loan from Milan that winter after a dismal spell at Monaco, the winger flashed back into life upon his Serie A return, kickstarting a prolific scoring run with a debut goal - using a technique that is still scarcely believable nearly four years on.
Adem Ljajic v Verona (1/9/13)
El Shaarawy wasn't the only one to open his account in spectacular fashion. Just four days after joining from Fiorentina, the Serbian hit the target from outside the box after being set up by Miralem Pjanic. It wasn't exactly a sign of things to come from Ljajic, who suffered from inconsistency during his two years in the capital.
Nico Lopez v Catania (26/8/12)
Looking back, this goal paints a picture of a very different Roma side. American midfielder Michael Bradley clipped a great aerial ball through to January signing Lopez, who, making his first team bow under Zdenek Zeman, controlled it, flicked it over the defender and connected with a sweet left-footed volley. It was the only goal the Uruguayan scored in his seven Roma appearances.
Erik Lamela v Palermo (23/10/11)
Lopez and Lamela both joined from South American clubs, as Roma looked to provide them with a pathway into European football. Lamela's signing was obviously the more highly anticipated due to the greater amount of money spent on him, but he had to wait until October for his debut after joining that summer. He made the most of it, though, curling in a shot from out wide in the box just eight minutes into his first game.
Filippo Scardina v CSKA Sofia (16/12/09) The last homegrown Roma academy graduate to mark his debut with a goal, Scardina was given an opportunity by Claudio Ranieri in the last game of the Europa League group stages, coming on with the score at 2-0 in the 81st minute. Eight minutes later, he had made it 3-0. However, he never played for the club again, and has since drifted around Serie C. Shabani Nonda v Reggina (28/8/05) Signed from Monaco in 2005, the African striker came on as a substitute on the opening day of the new season, and scored late in stoppage time in a 3-0 win - in Luciano Spalletti's first game in charge. He would only add three more goals for the club, before being loaned to Blackburn Rovers the following season. John Carew v Brescia (14/9/03) Two players made a scoring debut in the first home game of Fabio Capello's final season in charge of Roma. In the 88th minute, Carew scored the last goal of the game from the penalty spot, with regular penalty taker Francesco Totti having been brought off and thus denied a hat-trick. Carew scored eight goals in 29 appearances during his loan from Valencia, but was not signed permanently at the end of the year. Cristian Chivu v Brescia (14/9/03)
The second name on the scoresheet in that 5-0 rout had been Romanian defender Chivu, who started in defence having signed from Ajax. He doubled Roma's lead with a perfectly placed free kick struck with his stronger left foot to mark his first game in Italian football with a goal. Chivu was certainly not known for goalscoring prowess by the end of his four seasons with Roma, though, managing just five more goals in 122 more appearances.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
samuel bannister
Founder and editor of Giallorossi Yorkshire, who is also a columnist for Roma's official website about the women's team. Categories
All
Archives
October 2019
|