Roma Women 1-0 Slavia Prague: A brilliant winning start!

The Giallorosse had to battle hard to get the three points in Latina against a determined performance from the Czech champions, as Valentina Giacinti eventually broke the deadlock from close range after a fine run and finish from winger Emilie Haavi.

Alessandro Spugna’s side arguably edged the contest and were worthy winners, as captain Elisa Bartoli made her presence felt at both ends of the pitch and Haavi, Andressa Alves and Manuela Giugliano went close on more than one occasion.

Slavia, however, defended diligently throughout and created chances of their own, with substitute Marjolen Nekesa seeing a late attempt bounce away off the crossbar.

With Wolfsburg winning elsewhere against St Polten, the Giallorosse are up and running in what promises to be a tight battle to qualify for the knockout stages.

"I tapped in because I wasn't sure if it was going to go in otherwise, the defender was closing in on it," Giacinti said afterwards.

"But the important thing is that we won. It's vital that we started the group with the right result. We know it's going to be tough to get through ... now we need to focus on Como at the weekend."

Over 2,000 fans made the trip to Latina to cheer on the side, and they were rewarded with an impressive full debut from their team in Europe’s premier club competition.

"It's a really important result for us, but I want to underline what a tough match it was for us," Spugna said.

"We had to battle, we had to suffer at times, but in the second half we slowly managed to find a way to create chances and we eventually got the goal we deserved.

"I was hopeful that we would see as many fans as we did tonight and we have to thank them, because they made themselves heard, especially during parts of the game where we were perhaps struggling a bit more."

See more photos from the game in the gallery below!

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