Brighton & Hove Albion ended Roma’s mini pre-season tour of the United Kingdom with a convincing 3-0 victory on the English south coast on Saturday, with Georginio Rutter and Yasin Ayari on target for the Premier League side.
Rutter opened the scoring before Ayari struck twice, leaving Roma to finish their three-match tour with two defeats. Gian Piero Gasperini’s side had already suffered a surprise 4-1 loss against Cardiff City, although they responded by beating Newport County 4-1.
The match was Roma’s final friendly before the conclusion of their UK preparations. Brighton and Roma had last met in the 2023-24 Europa League round of 16, when Roma progressed 4-1 on aggregate after winning the first leg 4-0 at Stadio Olimpico.
Gasperini selected a strong starting line-up in Brighton, using Donyell Malen, Paulo Dybala and Matias Soule in attack. Neil El Aynaoui started alongside Bryan Cristante in midfield, while Wesley and Devyne Rensch operated as wing-backs. Summer arrivals Santiago Castro and Konstantinos Koulierakis were named among the substitutes.
Brighton created the first clear opportunity after six minutes. Rutter found room for a shot on target, but Mile Svilar got down well to his near side to make the save.
Rutter went close again four minutes later when he curled a powerful effort from the edge of the penalty area towards the top corner. Svilar produced an excellent stop to keep Roma level.
Roma registered their first attempt on target in the 19th minute. Dybala met a cut-back from Wesley on the left, but his effort was deflected and lacked the power to seriously test Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen.
Malen then came closer, sending a fierce shot from outside the box narrowly over the crossbar. Wesley also tried to find the near top corner from the left side of the six-yard box shortly before the half-hour mark, but the ball landed on the roof of the net.
Brighton finally broke through in the 29th minute. Rutter was given space just outside the penalty area, took a touch to move the ball onto his left foot and curled a fine finish into the upper corner beyond the reach of Svilar.
The hosts doubled their advantage in the 40th minute after a counter-attack. Wesley initially kept pace with Yankubah Minteh during a long sprint across the pitch, but Roma’s defence was unable to deal with the danger. Wesley, El Aynaoui, Cristante and Gianluca Mancini all failed to prevent Ayari from poking the ball home.
Brighton needed only four minutes of the second half to add a third. Rutter supplied Ayari inside the area and the midfielder finished past Svilar to complete his double.
Roma were fortunate not to concede again soon afterwards. Rutter raced down the right and found himself almost one-on-one with Svilar, but an awkward bounce caused the ball to strike his shin rather than his laces.
Both teams made extensive changes, with 20 substitutes introduced by full-time. Roma subsequently enjoyed more possession as Brighton protected their three-goal lead, and the remainder of the contest became largely a matter of seeing out the result for the home side.
Brighton 3-0 Roma
Rutter 29, Ayari 40, 49
Brighton: Verbruggen; Wieffer, Simmonds, Boscagli, Kadioglu; Ayari, Hinshelwood, Gross; Minteh, Rutter, Gomez. Coach: Fabian Hurzeler.
Substitutes: McGill, Dunk, Osman, Cashin, Kostoulas, Costinha, Cozier-Duberry, De Cuyper, Yalcouye, Yohanna, Middleton.
Roma: Svilar; Mancini, Ndicka, Hermoso; Rensch, El Aynaoui, Cristante, Wesley; Dybala, Soule; Malen. Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini.
Substitutes: Gollini, Di Marzi, Ghilardi, Ziolkowski, Koulierakis, Nardin, Reale, Mannini, Lulli Panico, Cherubini, Vaz, Castro.
