Serie A stars score seven goals to entertain bumper Perth crowd

The colours of green, white and red lit up the night sky above Optus Stadium last Friday night as two Italian football giants were in town.

AC Milan and AS Roma played out a seven-goal thriller in front of 56,522 excited fans.

It was Roma who were victorious in the match, with World Cup winner Paulo Dybala scoring the pick of their goals. For Milan, French-fullback Theo Hernández scored a screamer of a volley to claim the best goal of the night.

There was plenty of action on the pitch to compliment the atmosphere and enthusiasm off it. In the fan park outside the stadium there were fans of both sides waving flags and singing iconic Italian football chants. It truly felt like the Serie A had come to Perth.

Inside the turnstiles, punters could purchase a somewhat peculiar selection of Italian food items including arancini balls, bolognaise loaded fried, Mrs Mac’s pizza pie, and most absurdly, a lasagne burger.

Before kick-off the stadium came to life with a brilliant light show which featured fireworks and music to fire up the crowd.

This was followed by Dr Richard Walley OAM giving a welcome to country, then the Italian and Australian national anthems.

In the first half a Mexican wave summoned the first goal, scored by Tommaso Baldanzi for Roma, before Hernández levelled the scores. Tammy Abraham put Roma up 2-1 before half time.

In the second half Angelino, Dybala and Sardar Azmoun scored for Roma while Noah Okafor bagged for Milan to see the final score hit 5-2.

Altogether it was a great event, filled with and excitement. A great treat for the Perth-Italian community and lovers of football in the city, of which there are many.

Grazie mille AS Roma and AC Milan!

Image Credit: Daniel Njegich