Dream renewal and qualification. Under a freezing spring rain but full of emotions, De Rossi built a perfect night, giving his Roma their fifth consecutive semi-final (one in the Champions League, three in the EL and one in the Conference League). He does it with his tactical stamp, overcoming a stunned Diavolo 2-1 after a handful of minutes and incapable of reacting in an orderly manner, poor in ideas, at times frayed and often at the mercy of the tactical strategy adopted by the Giallorossi coach. If for the former Captain Future the adventure in Rome will be extended for at least another two seasons (the renewal announced a few hours before the match is yet to be signed), the defeat at the Olimpico, which goes hand in hand with that at San Siro , seems to accelerate Pioli’s farewell to the bench, betrayed by his stars, starting with Leao, once again apathetic and not very incisive, disconnected and at times detached from the game as had already happened in the first leg.
Who knows if a possible success against Inter in next Monday’s derby which could make the Nerazzurri champions of Italy will ever be able to change the fortunes of the Emilian coach, who was unable to give a jolt to a team that was two goals down after a twenty minutes due to goals from Mancini and Dybala, he played for over an hour in numerical superiority due to Celik’s expulsion. Five attackers were not enough to try to break through the wall of a Roma, attentive, tough, diligent in the departments, squeezed between the lines and full of heart and courage. For De Rossi a dream night, for Pioli a nightmare, full of bitterness. The Devil woke up too late with Gabbia who headed the ball home in the 86th minute when it had already been understood that abusing the number of attackers had done nothing but reduce the momentum of an already overwhelmed machine. Now it’s Roma’s turn against German champions Bayer Leverkusen on their way to the final. A battleship but this Rome of De Rossi nothing seems precluded. The Giallorossi coach still focuses on El Shaarawy as the starter, confirms Smalling in defense while in midfield Bove takes the place of the suspended Cristante. Pioli leaves out Reijnders who gives way to Musah paired in midfield with Bennacer. Tomori returns, Pulisic, Giroud and Leao in front. The Rossoneri coach immediately asks for high pressure, Musah plays at full flank to try to find spaces but finds a very attentive Roma in coverage with very narrow lines that force Leao to move back several meters to get balls. Roma struggled to appear in the Rossoneri area but on their first lunge, in the pouring rain, they hit the mark: Pellegrini, kicks from the edge of the area with a curling shot that hits the post, the ball ends up on the feet of Mancini who hits the center area all alone you just have to deposit it on the net. The Giallorossi defender thus replicates the goal from the first leg at San Siro and dedicates the goal to Mattia Giani, the 26-year-old from Castelfiorentino, brother of the Giallorossi’s sister’s partner, who passed away last Monday after suffering an illness on Sunday during a match with Lanciotto.
Mancini, visibly moved, shows a black shirt with the writing ‘Ciao Mattia, forever with us’. Milan reacted immediately and in the 19th minute they came close to equalizing with Loftus-Cheek with a powerful shot that bounced off the wet grass and hit the crossbar, a sign of a bad evening for the Devil who suffered the second goal after a handful of minutes. Lukaku accelerating on the far flank resists Gabbia’s shoulder, serves in the middle of the area where the Rossoneri center back tries to sweep but the ball is intercepted by Dybala who with surgical precision slides from the edge into the far corner. For De Rossi’s team the match goes downhill but in the 31st minute a messy tackle by Celik on Leao leaves the Giallorossi with 10 men who two minutes earlier had to do without Lukaku (knee problem, in his place Abraham), left the field due to injury. He is a wounded Devil, full of good will but incapable of making a scratch, who tries to recover more with his nerves than with the game. Loftus Cheek has another good chance, hitting the center of the area with a powerful header but finding it blocked by the Giallorossi wall. With Roma outnumbered, De Rossi is forced to revolutionize his tactical structure, scarifying second striker Dybala and inserting Llorente, with the aim of increasing defensive and midfield protection and stemming the Rossoneri’s attacks. Pioli replaces Bennacer with Jovic to give greater substance but it is the whole team that must move in harmony to try to close Roma down in their own half with even greater insistence and reopen the match.
In the second half Reijnders and Chukwueze came on instead of Calabria and Loftus-Cheek, who was too uncertain in the coverage phase. It’s a front-wheel drive AC Milan that raises the pace while Roma tends to slow down, contain and look for a foul to raise the center of gravity and keep the Devil as far away from the area as possible. Despite the man down, Roma, who are no longer marking man, make an effort to press high to defuse the Rossoneri’s push. Pulisic tries with a shot from the edge off target, Leao on the outside misses too many support balls in midfield, Maignan brawls with his teammates who he sees as too frayed and not very decisive in the disengagement phase. Roma limit themselves to lunges on the counterattack (excellent chance for Spinazzola who kicks hard on Maignan from a good position after a counterattack triggered by a Pellegrini backheel). with De Rossi asking from the bench for calm, balance, compactness and extra work from Bove to keep the midfield stable. In the 65th minute Abraham wasted the match point shot in front of goal, leaving Milan the chance to still believe in the comeback by throwing five attackers into the fray (also including Okafor and Florenzi for Pulisic and Musah). But he is a Devil who plays alone, who relies only on individual actions. Roma responds with Sanches for an exhausted and precious Bove and Angelino for an exhausted Pellegrini. The Devil doesn’t stop trying, scoring the 2-1 goal with Gabbia heading in the 85th minute following a cross from Leao. But it’s a flash on a night that’s too dark for the Rossoneri. Roma celebrates and dreams big.
Tags: Europa League Roma men hour wins flies semifinal Milan
