There may be no better time to score your first goal for a club than in dramatic circumstances towards the end of a game.
Here, Giallorossi Yorkshire takes a look at the players in the 21st Century whose first goal for Roma came in the 90th minute or stoppage time beyond it.
Sardar Azmoun
With Roma trailing to Lecce as full-time approached, a bullet header from substitute Sardar Azmoun set a comeback in motion. It was Azmoun’s sixth appearance from the bench since his loan arrival from Bayer Leverkusen and his emphatic equaliser, assisted by a Nicola Zalewski cross, paved the way for fellow new striker Romelu Lukaku to grab a winner even deeper into stoppage time.
Georginio Wijnaldum
A serious injury suffered early into his loan spell at Roma meant that Georginio Wijnaldum had to wait a long time to show any sign of his best during the 2022-23 season (realistically, he never really did). One of the few good glimpses he gave the Giallorossi was his first goal for the club in March, but his strike in the 94th minute against Sassuolo was a consolation in a 4-3 loss.
Nemanja Matic
Roma risked losing three consecutive home games in Serie A over the autumn months of 2022, but Nemanja Matic’s goal in the fourth of five signalled minutes of added time ensured not by earning them a 1-1 draw against Torino. The midfielder finished from outside the box with his left foot after latching onto a rebound from a Paulo Dybala woodwork-rattler.
Gregoire Defrel
One of Roma’s most disastrous striker signings in recent memory, it almost felt like a sympathy vote (considering Daniele De Rossi was also on the pitch) when Gregoire Defrel was allowed to take a penalty in the 92nd minute of a Serie A game against Benevento in February 2018, in which Eusebio Di Francesco’s side were already 4-2 up. Defrel converted to make it five, but he would never score from open play for the club.
Michel Bastos
Loaned in from UAE club Al Ain for the second half of Rudi Garcia’s first season in charge of Roma, Michel Bastos only scored once in 17 appearances during his temporary stay. His 96th-minute goal doubled Roma’s lead in what became a 2-0 win over Sassuolo.
Nico Lopez
Nico Lopez is one of many players Roma have brought to Europe for the first time from a club in another continent, but the South American’s first goal for the club was also his last. It changed a result, though, as the 91st-minute equaliser in a 2-2 draw with Catania.
Marco Andreolli
As a defender, Marco Andreolli’s only goal in Roma colours was a late leveller in London against Fulham in a Europa League group match in 2009. He scored in the 93rd minute to cancel out a deficit that had stood for over an hour.
Marco Cassetti
After failing to score at all in his final season with Lecce, Marco Cassetti opened his Roma account in the April of his debut campaign in the capital. Luciano Spalletti’s side were drawing 1-1 with Inter when the full-back came off the bench with just over a quarter of an hour remaining, before Francesco Totti made it 2-1 in the 89th minute and Cassetti doubled the lead from the edge of the box after a De Rossi assist in the 95th.
Traianos Dellas
All four of the goals Traianos Dellas scored for Roma were headers. His first was an equaliser in the 90th minute to seal a 1-1 draw against Modena in February 2003.
Diego Fuser
Three years after leaving Lazio, Diego Fuser returned to the capital to cross the divide and sign for Roma after their Scudetto win in 2001. His only two goals for the Giallorossi occurred in consecutive games; the first was the solitary goal in a 1-0 triumph over Venezia in the December of the year he joined, crossing the line in the 91st minute.
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