After a goalless first half, the Italian outfit took the lead early in the second period, but two goals in less than 10 minutes from Olivier Ntcham and Thierry Ambrose secured all three points for the hosts and catapulted them straight to the top of Group E.
Going into this Tuesday afternoon encounter, both sides were looking for the victory that would secure maximum points from the opening two games.
Roma ran out 3-1 winners against CSKA Moscow in their first clash, while City swept aside Bayern Munich 4-1 in Germany to get their campaign off to the best possible start.
Patrick Vieira was impressed with his team’s display on the continent and named an unchanged starting XI from the one that put Bayern to the sword two weeks ago.
Jose Angel Pozo was back in action after his recent involvement with Jack Byrne.
It was the visitors who had the first real chance to take the lead after just three minutes although there was an element of fortune involved. The shot from Daniele Verde took a big deflection and Angus Gunn made an impressive save to divert the ball over the top.
That early scare apart, City edged a tight competitive encounter for the opening 25 minutes, and Brandon Barker will have been disappointed to curl his attempt wide after being sent clean through.
The England youth international winger linked up well with left back Angelino and the duo were a continual threat down the left hand side.
Angelino had a shot blocked from a corner before Tosin Adarabioyo headed the rebound narrowly over the bar, while the lively Ntcham drove through the defence after Bryan did well to nick the ball off the toes of his Roma counterpart, but was forced wide.
It wasn’t long before Ntcham made his presence felt at the opposite end of the pitch, racing back to steal the ball and complete the clearance after the Roma attacker had broken beyond City’s defence.
Jose Pozo had another chance to put City ahead but failed to hit the target, while at the other end Gunn made a fantastic save to deny the visitors on the break.
Roma began the second half strongly and Bossaerts was forced to clear the ball off his own goal line to keep the scores level, but was unable to prevent the visitors taking the lead on 54 minutes.
The Italians broke quickly, and Francesco Di Mariano was left free at the far post to fire into the roof of the net from close range.
City sought an immediate response, and Ntcham had a couple of shots blocked by the legs of Roma defenders, while Ambrose headed straight into the gloves of keeper Marchegiani before Ntcham found the goal he and City deserved just after the hour mark.
A shot from distance took a deflection on its way through and left the goalkeeper powerless to prevent the ball smacking into the back of the net.
Sensing the opportunity to press their advantage, City drove forward in search of a second and took the lead in less than 10 minutes. Pozo and Ntcham combined with great skill to set up Ambrose, who calmly fired home from the right hand side of the area.
Roma weren’t finished though, and Gunn had to make a series of impressive saves using all his limbs to deny the visitors. Fantastic juggling skills from Antonio Sanabria in the area gave him space to unleash the shot, but Gunn was equal to it, pushing away his effort and two further rebound shots.
Ambrose had a chance to double his tally for the afternoon, running half the length of the pitch before forcing the keeper to make a good stop at his near post, while at the other end D’Urso got to his head to a good cross but could only direct the ball wide of Gunn’s post.
Roma were determined to set up a grand stand finish, but during the five additional minutes struggled to make any headway into the City penalty area due to good work from Maffeo and Ambrose in stealing the ball back on the right hand side.
Soleri had a chance to work Gunn with the seconds ticking down, but failed to control the ball in the box and City held on for a deserved three points to maintain their 100% record in this competition.
