There Rome by Daniele De Rossi this Saturday did not go beyond a 1-1 draw in the friendly played against Olympiacos, the team that won the Conference League against Fiorentina. In addition to the result and the minutes put on the players’ legs, the challenge with the Greek red and whites was important for seeing the debut from the first minute of Matias Soulé and, above all, the absolute one of Artem Dovbyka centre forward who just arrived from Girona to replace Lukaku. For the record, it all happened in the first half, with Pellegrini doing well to beat the opposing goalkeeper from the spot in the 17th minute. Again from a penalty, 5 minutes later, Rodinei equalised: a 1-1 that held up until the end of the match.
Dovbyk’s debut
Initially De Rossi had lined up his team with a 4-3-3 with Celik, Mancini, Ndicka and Angelino in front of Svilar. Midfield with Le Fee, Cristante and Pellegrini, while up front there was space for Soulé and Zalewski to support Tammy Abraham. Then, in the second half, the carousel of substitutions with Dovbyk’s debut at the start of the second half, with the Ukrainian entering the field with the various Dybala, Bove, El Shaarawy, Smalling, Kumbulla, Pisilli and Aboubacar. In the final, then, space also for Graziani and the other new acquisition, Samuel Dahl.
De Rossi’s words on Soulé and Dovbyk
“Soulé hadn’t played yet, I didn’t want to force Dovbyk too much. I always try to fit things in, but the will was to see them and it’s a satisfaction. It’s not a given that they will always play together, I have a club behind me that makes these investments. I’m the one who has the most patience in this city, because I know that there is a club that wants to do things well and other players like that will arrive. Who plays is not important, what is important is that at the end of the year there are no differences between the players on the pitch and on the bench”, declared the Giallorossi coach in the mixed zone.