Roma – Fiorentina 2-1

As per Fonseca's script, Roma dominated ball possession and territorial possession with Iachini's Fiorentina who often went from 352 to 532. With Fiorentina so low, it became essential to win the duels on the two wings. At the beginning, our winning side seemed the left where the Spinazzola-Chiesa duel was taking place. Spina passed behind Chiesa and then went to the assist. In reality then Bruno Peres-Lirola was the key to the first goal. Lirola, a young but already valid full-back, often managed to contain the speed of our Brunetto, but then our brasileiro took advantage of a distraction by the Florentine and forced him to the foul which resulted in the penalty scored by Jordan Veretout.

At the beginning of the second half, Fiorentina started better, also thanks to the substitutions and the greater will of Vlahovic and Cutrone compared to Kouamè and Ribery. Anyhow. the bad distraction of ours weighs on Milenkovic's corner goal. In particular of Diawara who marked the Serbian, of Mancini who jumps too early and of Lopez not very reactive on the occasion. The three played well generally. My feeling is that we do not exploit the full potential of Diawara, able to play a few meters ahead of Veretout (especially in the construction phase), to help in pressing and then go back to help in defense.

In the same way as Fiorentina, the key to Roma's second goal were the changes. I am sorry to say this because I am a lover of Pellegrini, but his injury was a fortunate contingency, allowing Roma to field the fresh Zaniolo. Carles Perez (who came in instead of Mkhitaryan who played well, hitting a pole) was also important. Roma accelerated, increasing pressure and attack until the penalty that comes after a choral action, a pole by Kolarov, a shot by Dzeko blocked by Caceres and a great Terracciani's block on shot from outside of Carlito.

There was a lot of controversy mainly for the second penalty then scored by Veretout. In reality it would have been sensational not to whistle him, given that the Fiorentina goalkeeper comes out in a very dangerous way. Even if it had not been so dangerous, in the regulation there is no longer the concept of "availability of the ball by the offender", but enough that it is in game, and in any case, as I explained earlier, such a dangerous entry it is always penalty.

Now head to Torino. With +4 over Milan (who drew with Atalanta 1-1), the victory at the home of the Bull would mean mathematical qualification to the Europa League groups, to then face Juve serenely in the last game and prepare mentally for these 2 weeks by EL. We can try Diawara ahead of Veretout and Zaniolo from the first minute. It is a game within reach, but we must put in our best efforts to win, to guarantee the next year's EL groups and prepare for these 4 fundamental games, which can overturn the judgment on the season. Daje Roma!

Giordano Sepi