Juventus through, Roma eliminated from Europa League

(GSM) – It was a night of mixed feelings for Italian football as Juventus advanced to the next round of the UEFA Europa League while AS Roma were eliminated by Panathinaikos.

After a 1-2 win in Amsterdam in the first leg, pressure was on Dutch side Ajax to score at least two goals at Turin’s Delle Alpi stadium.

And although the guests created a number of chances and played particularly well in the second half, Juventus kept the ball out of their goal and held their opponents to a goalless draw, 2-1 on aggregate.

Roma lost the first leg in Greece 3-2 and face a tough task at home, although a small win would have been enough to advance on away goals.

Things initially went well for the Romans as Norwegian John Arne Riise scored the opening goal on 11 minutes.

But Panathinaikos made an end to all Italian hope in the last five minutes of the first half. Djibril Cisse converted a penalty in the 40th minute, Sotiris Ninis then put the Greeks ahead three minutes later and Cisse even made it 1-3 a minute later.

Daniele de Rossi pulled one back in the 67th minute but Roma lacked the three more goals they needed to survive.

Panathinaikos have to play their first round of sixteen match without Kostas Katsouranis, who was handed a second yellow card in the dying minutes.