Serie A | Parma 2-3 Roma: Malen secures incredible comeback victory

Roma scraped an extraordinary 3-2 thriller at the 101st minute with a Donyell Malen penalty after Parma had turned it around to lead 2-1 at the 87th.

The Giallorossi were right back in the push for Champions League football after thrashing Fiorentina 4-0, but the pressure was on after Juventus won 1-0 away to Lecce last night. Paulo Dybala started with Donyell Malen and Matias Soulé for only the second time after January 25, with Lorenzo Pellegrino, Bryan Zaragoza, Artem Dovbyk and Evan Ferguson injured, but Neil El Aynaoui returned from suspension. The Ducali were already safe, but missed Adrian Bernabé, Gaetano Oristanio and Matija Frigan.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

Malen had the ball in the net after nine minutes when controlling a long ball over the top and flicking it around Zion Suzuki to deposit into an empty net, but he was flagged offside.

Nesta Elphege’s acrobatic volley was charged down, but Gianluca Mancini had penalty appeals when he went to control a Dybala pass and got there before Lautaro Valenti, who kicked him in the back of the ankle, but VAR decided not to recommend an On-Field Review.

Roma did score moments later, as Manu Kone intercepted in midfield, Dybala’s one-touch pass laid it off perfectly for Malen to beat the on-rushing Suzuki.

Mario Hermoso flashed a dangerous ball across the face of goal just beyond Malen, then Soulé should’ve made it 2-0 when his free header thumped the far post on a Dybala cross.

Mile Svilar was almost caught out by a poor Evan Ndicka back-pass, forced to make a desperate tackle on Gabriel Strefezza, while there was nobody ready to meet the Emanuele Valeri roll across and Hans Nicolussi Caviglia blasted off target.

Parma equalised within moments of the restart, as Nicolussi Caviglia intercepted a wayward Hermoso pass and set up Strefezza, who drilled a precise snooker-shot into the far bottom corner from just inside the area.

Malen almost replied immediately, but Suzuki made the save at the near post, then Parma had the ball in the net again on 55 minutes. Mateo Pellegrino’s header from a corner had looped in, but the offside flag was up for Mariano Troilo, who was considered to be interfering with play near Svilar.

Christian Ordonez also volleyed just wide of an open goal after Svilar’s panicked punch, while El Aynaoui nodded a Wesley cross off target.

Dybala sparked a counter-attack, forcing Suzuki into a huge save on Malen, though Pisilli blasted the rebound over the bar.

Pisilli did get the shot on target from eight yards from a Malen pull-back, but was denied by an extraordinary Alessandro Circati defensive block.

Instead, Parma turned the game around completely when Mandela Keita combined with Ordonez, controlling the ball over the top with his chest and drilling through a sea of legs from 12 yards. It was a very rare goal for the midfielder, one celebrated wildly by his proud mother in the stands.