Genoa-Roma 0-2 and Zorya.

Roma dominated the whole game and, despite the unsportsmanlike attitude of the genoans who threw themselves to the ground on every occasion, they managed to win in the end. The genoans fell, died and rose again after a few minutes. It is not possible for a team to be allowed to waste time with this unsportsmanlike method. Simulators must be cautioned.

We are talking about a very tough battle. If the opponent is only defending, the manual says that you must know how to manage possession, even with back passes. However, at one point the passage back was too frequent and possession was sterile.

When Felix joined, the game changed. He scored two beautiful goals. One after a great ride by Mkhi (best in the field for Mou and therefore also for us kneeling in front of the Special One) and one at the end with an excellent 30m round shot. Very well Mkhi across the board, often as a point guard in the midst of the central backs and as a midfielder as a ball retriever in the middle of the pitch. The great performance of ElSha as a left winger and of the whole defense in general should also be underlined. Thanks to timely advances, they kept the game on the score Roma attacks and Genoa defends. Many wasted opportunities, but overall we never suffered, and at the same time we dominated the game and deservedly won.

Now think to Zorya.

Zorya is the team from Lugansk, the capital together with Donetsk in eastern Ukraine (Donetsk in the south and Lugansk in the north), part of Donbass. After the Ukrainian revolution of '14 it became a conflict zone, although now it seems that the situation has improved. To understand why there was this war, I have to explain the differences between the west of Ukraine, purely bourgeois, pro-European and therefore conservative (with Nazi-fascist nuances) and the working-class east, often miner, left and pro-Russian (with nuances communists). It is a fairly widespread situation throughout Eastern Europe. In thearticle on CSKA Sofia,, I yet talked about, but here the conflict became civil war for the proximity with Russia

The prematch of the first leg was quite exhaustive both from the tactical aspect of the Zorya and from the political aspect of Ukraine. To pacify the Donbass, Europe must seriously think about Russia’s entry into the EU on condition that the rights of opponents and the press are finally respected in Russia. On the other hand, Europe must make its voice heard more clearly, given the progressive abandonment of US international politics, as happened with Trump and is happening with Biden, despite being an extremely better president than the previous one.

Let's move on to the game picture more specifically.

Zorya is all played in this match, still having hopes of qualifying at least to the round of 32 (Glimt 8, Roma 7, Zorya 6, CSKA Sofia 1). It is therefore important not to underestimate the commitment and break his bones in terms of sporting results.

Skrypnyk fielded 433 with quite obsessive man by man zone, in particular of the advanced midfielders (Buletsa and Kabaev), so much so that the luganskers can often lose their position (which is why, as I say in the pre-match of the first leg, the layout on the pitch appears very messy).

The defensive line on the holes is quite jagged.

The most dangerous player is Sayyadmanesh. The Iranian is fast and good at dribbling. Lunev is all left-handed. The other Iranian, Zahedi, is very technical. He has also played as a midfielder, but has recently been deployed as a striker. He is therefore an atypical central striker, good at pressing, more dribbling and more like a fake 9 in general.

On the corners, the defends man by man.

The match in Genoa taught us that we can close corners, attack continuously and win easily (even more easily than Genoa) against a certain type of opponent, including Zorya. The Zorya will try to attack and we can also hit on the counterattack. We start favorites but they can become a poison dinner (old KGB method of killing awkward characters). It is important to play with passion and focus. Daje Roma!

Giordano Sepi