February 26, 2023
With the draw of the Europa League pairing Brighton and Hove Albion against AS Roma in the last 16 knockout round, it was an ideal opportunity for these diaries to finally cover football in Italy with a report on the current form of AS Roma.
Despite regularly watching Channel 4’s live coverage of Serie A in the 1990s and the preview programmes hosted by James Richardson, Fatbear hasn’t always been too diligent in keeping up-to-date with recent events in Serie A.
AS Roma Background
Associazione Sportiva Roma are one of the biggest names in Italian football, having won Serie A on three occasions ( the last time in 2000/01 ), being runners-up on 14 occasions, winning the Coppa Italia 9 times, and winning the Europa Conference League in 2021/22, where they beat Feyenoord 1-0 in the final in Tirana.
They were also runners-up in the European Cup in 1983/84, when they lost a penalty shoot-out to Liverpool after a 1-1 draw in their Stadio Olympico, which was probably more known for Bruce Grobbelaar’s wobbly legs during the penalties.
Roma have also twice been runners-up in the Europa League, most recently in 2022/23 when they lost on penalties to Sevilla after a 1-1 draw, leading to unprecedented abuse to referee Anthony Taylor from both manager Jose Mourinho and Roma supporters, particularly in the Airport car park.
Roma also lost the 1990/91 UEFA Cup final, losing 0-3 on aggregate to Inter Milan.
Roma are known as the Giallorossi ( the Yellow and Reds ) or Lupi ( The Wolves ) and their average home attendance in Serie A prior to today was 62,108.
Matches Seen in Italy
Roma’s joint home is the 70,634 capacity Stadio Olympico, which they share with Lazio. It was the venue for the crucial World Cup Qualifier between Italy and England for a place in the 1998 World Cup finals in France. In a dramatic game, which could have gone either way, Paul Ince heroically played with a blood-soaked headband, Ian Wright hit the post in the last minute, and then Christian Vieri’s header in added time sailed inches wide as the match finished goal-less. It was Paul Gascoigne’s last hurrah as a world class footballer with the Italians unable to dispossess him for large chunks of the game. England qualified and Italy went into the play-offs.
My major memory of that game though is of the incompetence of the Italian police, but fortunately some very sympathetic reactions from the well-behaved England fans under trying circumstances avoided serious trouble. With the growing popularity of football in the UK at the time, including a few captains of industry at the match aghast at being treated like hooligans, the treatment of England supporters led to questions in the House of Commons.
We were kept in the ground nearly three hours after the game had ended, and by the time we had been allowed out of the stadium at close to 2am in the morning, all of the public transport and taxis had long since gone from a ground several miles away from the centre of Rome. I walked away from the stadium in totally the wrong direction, but eventually saw some lights in the distance, and thought I would be able to get a taxi to my hotel in the centre of the city from there. When I entered the building, it was a Pizzeria and the enterprising owner was open and serving around 75 celebrating England fans with pizzas and beers. I stayed !
The taxis were few and far between so it took a several hours for one to become available, but after a few beers and some food, eventually I was able to get back to my hotel around 6am in the morning, just in time for breakfast.
I had also attended the 1995/96 Champions League final played in Rome between Juventus and Ajax, which Juve won on penalties after a 1-1 draw. Unlike in England where the reaction to winning a Cup Final would be to go out and celebrate with a few drinks, the Juventus supporters seemed to be content with riding around the city on their motor bikes and tooting their horns for hours !
My first ever visit to Rome was a business day-trip. On my return I was asked what did I think of the most beautiful city in Europe, to which I replied I had seen the Airport, the motorway and an Industrial Estate !
My one other match seen in Italy was Milan vs Lazio in 1989/99 at the San Siro, which Milan won 1-0 thanks to a last minute goal from Brazilian Leonardo.
AS Roma Squad
Looking at the Roma squad my first impression was that they were a mixture of either those who were washed up, or generally past it, but there were many players who should be familiar to football supporters in England.
There were two former England Internationals, ex-Fulham and Manchester United centre-back Chris Smalling ( 31 caps ), and ex-Chelsea and Aston Villa striker Tammy Abraham ( 11 caps ).
Danish right-back Rasmus Kristensen ( 20 caps ) and Spanish centre-back Diego Llorente ( 10 caps ) were both on loan from Leeds United following their relegation from the English Premiership and veteran Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku ( 113 caps ) was on loan from Chelsea.
Portuguese midfielder Renato Sanches ( 32 caps ) was on loan from Paris St Germain, having previously had a short, disappointing loan spell at Swansea City whilst a Bayern Munich player, and experienced Portuguese keeper Rui Patricio ( 107 caps ) had three seasons with Wolverhampton Wanderers before signing for Roma.
Spanish left-back Angelino was on loan from RB Leipzig, having been a Manchester City player earlier in his career, whilst Iranian forward Sardar Azmoun ( 80 caps ) was on loan from Bayer Leverkusen.
Other foreign internationals in their squad included ex-Juventus Argentinian forward Paulo Dybala ( 38 caps ), Polish wing-back Nicola Zalewski ( 14 caps ), ex-Lyon Algerian midfielder Houssem Aouar ( 9 caps ), ex-Lille Turkish right-back Zeki Celik ( 42 caps ), ex Paris St Germain Argentinian defensive midfielder Leonardo Parades ( 58 caps ), ex-Eintracht Frankfurt Ivorian centre-back Evan Ndicka ( 14 caps ), and ex-Feyenoord Dutch right-back Rick Karsdorp ( 3 caps ).
Italian internationals in the Roma squad included midfielder Bryan Cristante ( 38 caps ), winger Stephane El Shaarawy ( 31 caps ), midfielder and captain Lorenzo Pellegrini ( 26 caps ), left-back Leonardo Spinazzola ( 24 caps ) and centre-back Gianluca Mancini ( 11 caps ).
AS Roma This Season
Coach Jose Mourinho was sacked in mid-January following Roma’s elimination from the Coppa Italia after a bad-tempered encounter with city rivals Lazio, which they had lost 0-1.
Roma had finished runners-up in their Europa League group behind Slavia Prague, but in mid-week they edged into the last 16 to be drawn against Brighton and Hove Albion after two 1-1 draws with Feyenoord, and then winning the penalty shoot-out after extra-time.
Roma started this weekend in 6th place in Serie A with a 12-5-8 record, and 8-3-2 at home. Since the dismissal of Jose they had won 4 and lost 2 matches under former player Daniele de Rossi ( 117 caps ).
In their last Serie A fixture, Roma were comfortable 3-0 winners at Frosinone, but had lost 2-4 at home to Inter prior to that. Their other home reverse was back in August, when they fell 1-2 to AC Milan.
Lukaku was Roma’s top scorer in the league with 9 goals ( and 16 in all competitions ), one ahead of Dybala. Parades was the league’s bad boy with 11 yellow cards already in the season.
Torino FC
Torino Football Club are one of the most successful clubs in Italy, having won the Scudetto on 7 occasions, with 5 consecutive successes in the 1940s until the Superga air disaster wiped out their entire team. Their most recent title was 1975/76.
Torino have finished as Serie A runners-up 8 times, and have won the Coppa Italia 5 times. In 1991/92 there were runners-up in the UEFA Cup, losing on away goals to Ajax after a 2-2 draw at home and 0-0 in Amsterdam. They had eliminated Real Madrid in the semi-finals.
Torino play at the Stadio Olympico Grande Torino in Turin, which was previously the Stadio Communale, but was renovated for the 2006 Winter Olympics Opening and Closing ceremonies. The capacity has been reduced to 27,958. Torino had moved out of the Stadio Communale in 1990 to play at the Stadio delle Alpi, until moving back in 2006.
Torino are known as Il Toro ( The Bull ) or I Granata ( The Maroons )
Torino went into round 26 in 10th place in table, with a 9-9-7 record, and five points behind Roma. Away from home, they possessed a 3-4-5 record, with the wins coming at Salernitana ( 3-0 ), Leece ( 1-0 ) and Cagliari ( 2-1 ). Their best result of the season was arguably their 3-0 home win over champions Napoli, although the 3-0 home victory over Atalanta was also particularly noteworthy.
In midweek, Torino lost 0-2 at home to Lazio in a re-arranged fixture, but prior to that they had been on a run of just one loss in 11 matches, with 5 wins and 5 draws.
Looking at the Torino squad, the only familiar names to me were ex-Everton and West Ham Croatian attacking midfielder Nikola Vlasic ( 53 caps ) and ex VFL Wolfsburg and AC Milan Swiss left-back Ricardo Rodriguez ( 113 caps )
Additional research revealed that Colombian striker Duvan Zapata was on loan from Atalanta and had 32 caps, forward Antonio Sanabria had 32 caps for Paraguay and was previously at Real Betis, versatile Austrian Valentino Lozaro ( 36 caps ) had a brief spell at Newcastle whilst on loan from Inter Milan, and Serbian defensive midfielder Ivan Ilic ( 14 caps ) had been at Manchester City without playing for the first XI before moving on to NAC Breda and Hellas Verona.
Polish midfielder Karol Linetty has represented his country 47 times, Moroccan left-back Adam Masina had a spell at Watford as well as Bologna and Udinese and had 16 caps, Serbian keeper Vanja Milinković-Savić ( 18 caps ) started at Manchester United but never made a first team appearance, and defender Koffi Djidji started his career at Nantes.
19 year old midfielder Gvidas Gineitis had played 12 times for the Lithuanian senior side
Twice capped Italian defender Alessandro Buongiorno missed today’s game through injury, so probably wasn’t having a good day……..
Zapata was top of the Torino scoring charts with 7 goals, whilst keeper Milinković-Savić had kept 12 clean sheets, the second best in Serie A.
Matchday Information
Weather at the 18.30 local kick-off time ( 17.30 in the UK ) was 13 degrees with showers forecasted for later in the game, although they didn’t arrive.
Tickets for the match ranged from €19 in the Curva Nord to €90 in the Tribuna Monte Mario Centrale.
The match was being shown live in the UK on TNT Sports, and Bet365.com, who made Roma 19/20 favourites, with Torino at 10/3 and the draw at 11/5.
When the two sides met back in September, it finished in a 1-1 draw, Zapata equalising 5 minutes from time after Lukaku had given Roma the lead with just over 20 minutes remaining.
Roma made 5 changes to the side that started against Feyenoord, with Smalling, Ndicka, Kristensen, Angelino and Azmoun coming in with Lukaku, Spinazzola and El Shaarawy dropping to the bench and Karsdorp and Llorente dropping out completely. Abraham remained out injured.
Torino made two changes to their side that lost to Lazio, with Ginetis and Ricci coming in for Linetty and Ilic.
Roma were in playing in their familiar dark red/burgundy colours, whilst Torino were in a change kit of all white.
Match Report
Although the Roma fans were in good voice at the kick-off, it was Torino who controlled the early stages of the game, and a long range shot from Ginetis was blocked by Smalling.
Torino continued to press and won a corner off Ndicka, which came to nothing.
Against the run of play a ball out of defence was headed on by Dybala to put Roma’s Azmoun clear down the left. His unselfish pass across the face of the goalmouth reached Kristensen unmarked 14 yards out, but his left footed effort struck the base of the post and rebounded to safety. A golden chance was spurned.
Torino’s response was for Ricci to deliver a free-kick from the right which Sanabria swept wide off his shin from 10 yards. It was a good chance but a poor finish.
Torino were forced into an early substitution when Lovato had to go off and was replaced by Georgian defender Saba Sazonov ( 2 caps ) but they continued to play on the front foot. Roma keeper Svilar’s sloppy pass out from the back was intercepted by Ricci, and after laying off to Sanabria, the shop was deflected off for a corner.
With 21 minutes played Pellegrini made a good tackle to stop Zapata’s run down the right wing, and also won a goal-kick into the bargain.
Torino were dominating the game but Roma were looking dangerous on the occasional counter-attack.
The first yellow card of the match arrived in the 20th minute when Torino’s Lazaro pulled back Mancini as he ran into the Torino half.
Torino were still in control of the game though, and a chip into the Roma area required a brave punch from Svilar to clear the danger, and he won a free-kick for good measure.
Torino came close to opening the scoring in the 29th minute. After a flowing move out of defence, the ball was played out to Bellanova wide on the right and his cross reached Ricci beyond the back post, who after taking a first touch, volleyed into the side netting.
Roma seemed to have little response to Torino’s high press and were content to sit back and let the visitors have possession.
Torino collected a second yellow card in the 32nd minute when Ricci pulled back Dybala, but the free-kick into the Torino area was headed high into the air and keeper Milinković-Savić claimed an easy catch.
With 39 minutes on the clock, Vlasic wriggled into the Roma box but lost possession under pressure and fell to the ground. The referee allowed play to continue.
The game took a dramatic turn in the 40th minute. There didn’t seem to be any danger when Cristante played a ball forward to Azmoun on the edge of the Torino penalty area, but Sazonov’s over-zealous challenge was clumsy and made contact with the Iranian’s foot and the striker collapsed to the floor. The referee pointed to the spot, and with the foul being just inside the area, VAR was never going to overturn the decision as there had been contact.
Dybala stepped up to send the keeper the wrong way from the spot. 1-0 after 42 minutes.
However, if Roma thought they would be enjoying their half-time oranges with a one goal lead they were mistaken. Bellanova was allowed space on the right, and from his cross towards the centre of the goal, Zapata leapt the highest to beat Mancini and Kristensen and to head into the far corner. His header wasn’t the most powerful, but the ball crept into the net, and the Roma keeper will probably think he could have down better. 1-1 after 44 minutes.
Torino continued to search for a second goal before the interval. Roma’s Ndicka received his side’s first yellow card, and when the free-kick was played to Vlasic, his 25 yard left footer was unconvincingly pushed away by Svilar.
The visitors continued to look the better side at the start of the second half. Ricci’s free-kick was headed away by Smalling, only for Lazaro and Vlasic to combine on the left, but Lazaro’s effort from a tight angle was met with a good diving save by Svilar at his near post for corner. Svilar followed up his good work by punching away the corner.
Torino had noticeably changed their tactics and now their goal-keeper was kicking long into the Roma half from both goal-kicks and drop kicks. However, English centre-back Smalling was perhaps more familiar with this approach and made a series of clearing headers.
Roma had their best move for a while in the 52 minute when Smalling started a move from the back, and the ball reached Angelino on the left, but his cross was headed a few feet over by Mancini beyond the far post.
For the second time in the match Roma created something out of nothing. Cristante played an innocuous ball across the field to Dybala, who then out of the blue sent a fabulous 30 yard curling left-footed effort low into the keeper’s right-hand bottom corner leaving Milinković-Savić no chance. 2-1 after 58 minutes.
Angelino then committed a bad foul on Sanabria in a good attacking position for Torino on the right but Sazonov headed wide at the back post.
Roma then made a triple substitution but continued to soak up Torino’s long ball approach. Smalling was forced to make a bad tackle into the back of Sanabria but partially redeemed himself by heading away the free-kick. When the ball was played back into the danger zone, Masina’s back-heel from 10 yards gave Svilar a regulation save.
Roma extended their lead via another swift counter-attack. Dybala played a give and go with Lukaku and although receiving the ball back at a tight angle, he lashed a shot across goal into the opposite corner, although questions could be asked about the goal-keeper’s efforts to make the block. He really shouldn’t have been beaten from that angle. 3-1 after 68 minutes.
Torino’s response was for Vlasic to try his luck from 20 yards but his low attempt was straight at the keeper, who made a straight forward save.
By now though, Roma were now controlling the game, and Torino were making little impact. Smalling was taken off in the 78th minute, having had a good game on his return from injury, and Torino’s triple substitution failed to make much of any impact.
Roma nearly extended their lead in the 83rd minute. Vlasic carelessly gave the ball away and Spinazzola made ground down the left. His ball across the edge of the area was met by Dybala on the stretch, who was able to play the ball back across goal towards the penalty spot, but Sazonov was on hand to clear for a corner before Bove could take advantage.
Torino were still searching for a goal to bring them back into the match, but Okereke’s low shot 25 yard took a deflection, enabling Svilar to make a decent save. However, they did pull one back a couple of minutes later. A ball into the right-hand channel released Ricci close to the by-line and his fierce drive across the goal hit Huijson and diverted into the net for an own-goal. 3-2 after 88 minutes.
Roma now had to face a few nervous closing minutes, and four minutes of added time. Cristante gave the ball away on half-way and Vlasic latched onto it. He ran deep into the Roma and then laid off to Zapata, but surrounded by three defenders the Colombian fell to the floor, but the referee was not deceived and the game continued.
Roma saw out the remaining few minutes to hold onto three valuable points which kept them in 6th place in the Serie A table, but just 4 points off a potential Champions League place. They had now won 5 of their last 6 league matches. Torino remained in 10th place but a distant 8 points off a Europa Conference place.
With his hat-trick Dybala was the undoubted man of the match, not just for his goals but for creating two goals out of nothing. He was clearly the difference between the two sides, but quite frankly Roma looked pretty ordinary without him, although to be fair Cristante’s ability to keep possession in midfield was impressive.
Looking on from a Brighton and Hove Albion perspective, Smalling’s aerial dominance is unlikely to be a factor given the way Brighton play under Roberto de Zerbi, and Roma’s willingness to let Torino have position should make the pattern of the Europa League ties very familiar to Albion’s matches this season. The key will be the ability to prevent Dybala from creating any damage, and turning the expected majority of possession into goals.
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UaukrU0lf8
AS Roma : Svilar – Mancini, Smalling ( Huijson ), Ndicka – Kristensen, Cristante, Paredes ( Bove ), Angelino ( Spinazzola ) – Dybala, Azmoun ( Lukaku ), Pellegrini ( Renato Sanches )
Torino FC : Milinković-Savić – Djidji, Lovato ( Sazonov ), Masina ( Ilic ) – Bellanova, Ginetis ( Linetty ), Vlasic, Ricci, Lazaro ( Rodriguez ) – Zapata, Sanabria ( Okereke )
