“A soft Roma team for a soft defeat. Distracted and ineffective, into the field to defend the 0-4 to Villarreal. Match perhaps snubbed, conditioned by lack of concentration and so many changes in the starting lineup, some wrong changes made by the coach, admitted by himself, Luciano Spalletti.
Roma made a bad display tonight, especially in the first half of the game, clumsy errors, the more striking being Thomas Vermaelen allowing Villarreal to take the lead. But Alisson Becker was in goal tonight! Roma have two great goalkeepers.
He only plays Cup ties but it’s not unprepared when called up, indeed, with his miracles tonight he saved Rome from a possible messy situation. If Villarreal had scored another in the first half Roma would have risked a lot. Thank goodness that in the second half after certain adjustments Spalletti managed a more balanced team for a more balanced match. Did not lose his composure, and it stayed 0-1 to Villarreal until the end, 4-1 to Roma on aggregate.
What really counts now is that we moved on to the next round, the draw tomorrow. With Tottenham, Fiorentina and Shakhtar out, we definitely need to avoid Manchester United. Tough draw would also be Lyon, Ajax, Anderlecht, Schalke and Borussia. Besides those, hot stadiums like Besiktas and Olympiakos. With the two surprising Belgian clubs Gent and Genk, perhaps the easiest is Apoel Nicosia? Let’s see what happens tomorrow in the draw.
And tomorrow, another game is played off the field, a very important one for the future of AS Roma: the new Roma stadium. After 3 years of waiting, now it’s deal or not. Many out there are pessimistic, a negative outcome looming onto the city of Rome. Pallotta has already sent his word out to Rome City Council, that it would be a catastrophe for Rome and Italy future foreign investments. If response is negative, the Roma could sell its best players and Pallotta could sell the club. To whom are we hostage to?
Stefano Sale @ asroma.ie