It wasn’t a nice Rome. Indeed, perhaps it was one of the worst seen since January 20, 2024, i.e. since Daniele De Rossi’s arrival on the bench. It’s true, they had recently lost against Bologna at home, but the performance was quite good. Yesterday, however, a subdued match in Naples, which ended with a rather lucky draw: a point earned, given how the match had turned out, thanks to Abraham’s winning header, who returned to scoring exactly 365 days after the last time.
De Rossi has one player to thank more than all the others: Svilar, his choice (it was he who promoted him to first goalkeeper at the expense of Rui Patricio), at Maradona a real portcullis. He certainly doesn’t have to thank Sanches, who entered badly, guilty of having caused the penalty for the temporary 2-1. At the end of the match this is the analysis of the Giallorossi coach:
“A point worth 1 in the standings and not too much from a morale point of view. We didn’t do badly against Bologna, the episodes went the wrong way. Today, however, we played a subpar match against a team that is very strong, but really strong. We had to put in a super performance to win and we weren’t able to do it against a team like that. They brought out the pride of the champions, now former champions, but with the players they have they are very difficult to face.”
A point worth 1, yes, as De Rossi says. But that allows Roma to remain at +2 on Atalanta, awaiting the recovery of the orobics but above all the direct clash, in a few weeks. The Champions League dream continues, the Giallorossi remain fifth. That’s fine.