There's no question that AS Roma is under a dark cloud right now. Despite the fact that they managed to outplay BATE Borisov throughout the course of 90 minutes, the team struggled to get things going and they simply couldn't show any sort of accuracy in the final meters so in the end, they settled for a scoreless draw. The result, however, secured them the second place in Group E behind FC Barcelona and ahead of Bayer Leverkusen so they clinched a berth in the tournament's next round.

AS Roma dominated early but they lacked clarity on offense

The Italians dominated the possession and the scoring chances although they weren't, very clear in the final third, most notably due to a lack of accuracy on offence. Miralem Pjanic started very active in the middle of the pitch and he was the team's playmaker but it was noticeable he lacked company to create anything in the final third.

BATE, on the other hand, clearly opted to play with a more defensive approach. The Belarusian side was very defensive-minded all game long and they didn't try to create havoc on offense - instead, they only moved forward when they had enough space and not once they left lots of spaces on defence.

The clearer scoring chance in the first half belonged to Roma and it was a free kick from almost 25 meters out but he wasn't able to score. There weren't many emotions and as a result the first half ended with a scoreless draw and very few plays to remember.

Roma increases the tempo but the results didn't change

The hosts improved their play in the second half but the results didn't change. Even though the Italians spent most of the time playing near BATE's final third they struggled to make any sort of impact. Juan Iturbe, Iago Falque and Pjanic couldn't do much as they were tightly marked and while Edin Dzeko was always marked closely by the opposing defenders, he managed to came close to scoring in the 47th minute but his effort went wide.

Dzeko started another good sequence later in the game but even though his pass found Alessandro Florenzi, the defender's shot was deflected by the goalkeeper Sergey Chernik made a great save to keep the game scoreless.

BATE woke up in the final 30 minutes and they also had some good scoring chances, most notably between the 65th and the 80th minute. Maksim Volodko failed to convert from close range when he only had to tap the ball in while Filip Mladenovic also shot on target but the opposing goalkeeper was very good to deny the effort.

Roma went forward tirelessly in the final minutes but they couldn't get things going and while they never stopped moving forward, they couldn't find the back of the net so they ended settling for a draw. It wasn't the result they wanted but at least it managed to secure them a place in the tournament's next round.

Up next

With the scoreless draw AS Roma secured a berth in the next round while BATE Borisov ended their UCL campaign in last place of the Group. The Serie A outfit will know their opposition next Monday when the draw is held in Switzerland.

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About the author
Juan Pablo Aravena
26-year-old Chilean sports journalist with three years of experience in different websites and platforms. Covering all four major sports for VAVEL USA, international soccer for VAVEL UK and Latin American Soccer for VAVEL LatAm.