Roma brush aside CSKA challenge

AS Roma got off the mark in UEFA Cup Group E at the second time of asking, defeating Bulgarian visitors PFC CSKA Sofia with goals from Stefano Okaka Chuka and Simone Perrotta.

Straightforward
The victory was as comfortable as the 2-0 scoreline suggests, as the Serie A club bounced back from a Matchday 1 reverse at FC Basel 1893. Okaka Chuka made the breakthrough after 20 minutes, and there was no way back for Luboslav Penev's team once Perrotta had added a quick second.

Opener
Perrotta was first to threaten for Claudio Ranieri's men with a shot that sailed narrowly the wrong side of goalkeeper Ivan Karadzhov's left-hand post. It was from the Giallorossi's right flank, rather than the left, however, that the opening goal came. Marco Motta's pass dissected the CSKA back line and Okaka Chuka, who had beaten the offside trap, raced clear to slot the ball past Karadzhov.

Doubling up
Midfielder Perrotta produced an equally cool finish after he had timed his run into the visitors' box to coincide perfectly with the landing of a clever David Pizarro chip. The Bulgarian outfit continued to work hard despite the deficit, with John Arne Riise having to clear off his own goalline from an Ivan Stoyanov shot that Roma keeper Júlio Sérgio got a hand to.

Misses
There was another near thing for CSKA after the restart: Yordan Todorov should have done better when released by a Marquinhos through ball, as he waited in vain for team-mates to join him in the area rather than shoot on goal. For Roma, Alessio Cerci was guilty of an even worse miss, nodding a free header from Riise's cross down and over the crossbar from within the CSKA six-metre box. Still, Roma were up and running, leaving CSKA trailing in their wake with a solitary point to their name.