At the last moment, passing from nightmare to ecstasy, as she is now used to doing in the Mourinho era. The push of the 63,000 at the Olimpico drags Roma to a suffered success in comeback against Salernitana, which arrived only in the final minutes, just enough to extend the positive streak of consecutive useful results in Serie A to 11 and return to finishing in fifth place. On the brink of the abyss against the last in the standings, Mourinho’s team repays the warmth and gut affection of its fans and achieves in five minutes, all ecstasy and adrenaline, the counter-overtake to Lazio, remaining five points from fourth place of Juventus and keeping away the pressing Fiorentina. Pierced by a super-punishment from Radovanovic in the 22nd minute of the first half, the Giallorossi team needed almost an hour to break down the wall raised by the bells, well organized and attentive. It took a series of guessed changes in the second half and a save by Rui Patricio just before the turnaround to believe it until the fkine and keep hopes alive.
Then Carles Peres at 81 took care of it and Smalling’s touch in front of goal on a Veretout free-kick to achieve the comeback that made the Olimpico explode with joy. Mou leaves the stadium moved by talking about emotion and passion. He is more and more his team for temperament and will not to give up The Portuguese coach lines up Felix in attack together with Abraham with Mkhitaryan in support. Karsdorp and El Shaarawy on the outside while in defense Smalling starts from the first minute. On the bench, in addition to Zaniolo, he sees Spinazzola again. The coach actually wants to “prepare” the Giallorossi uncursore, fresh from the rupture of the Achilles tendon in the competition of the European Championships last July at the Olimpico against Belgium by making him stay with his teammates, also to enjoy the embrace of 63 thousand fans. Nicola’s Salernitana relies on Djuric forward with Ribery behind him. Radovanovic in defense while Obi and Mazzocchi on the flanks. Roma immediately tries to push and raise the pace but the first ring is from Salernitana with a great right from Ederson with Rui Patricio who is not surprised by putting the ball in the corner. The Campanians do not retreat their center of gravity, they take courage and are proactive. The tactical strategy is guessed and is rewarded in the 22nd minute, thanks to Radovanovic who was responsible for a very violent free-kick under the crossbar, thanks to the Giallorossi barrier that falls apart just at the moment of the conclusion of the Serbian defender.
Roma have plenty of time to recover but struggle to create dangerous actions and the match begins to take a poisonous slope for a series of referee decisions. Roma invoke a penalty in the 36th minute for a contact between Obi’s knee to Mkhitaryan but the referee is not called to review the images and lets it go. Then at 41 ‘another contact on the edge of the area between Felix and Gyomber but the push to the Giallorossi striker takes place just before entering the area. The Olimpico ignites, Mourinho wavers and the decibels of the stadium rise. But Roma need more rhythm and aggression to get the game back on its feet. And in the second half Mou brings in Zaniolo in place of Kumbulla to give front traction and greater impulse to the team. With so many players ahead, the Giallorossi risk on the counterattack but the push of the 64,000 is felt. However, the phrasing of Mou’s team is not brilliant, Felix lacks a bit of courage for individual play and is not very proactive, he loses a couple of game actions that trigger Mou’s criticisms. With the passing of the minutes the Salernitana gains even more confidence, commits few mistakes using the defense hinge in the best possible way and relying on sudden restarts. At 56 ‘Zaniolo tries from outside with a violent left with the ball deflected for a corner. The worst defense in the league holds.
Mou sees that the match is spinning off towards dead tracks and so he tries to change, he inserts Shomurodov, Zelewski and Perez for Oliveira, El Shaarawy and Felix in one fell swoop to shoot in twenty minutes of greater brilliance. However, a great save by Rui Patricio in the 72nd minute is needed to keep Roma’s hopes alive until the end. The Portuguese goalkeeper surpasses himself on a shot in front of Kastanov’s goal, rejects and this episode becomes the turning point of the match. Ten minutes later, in fact, Roma found the equalizer with Carles Perez who from outside the area pierced Sepe with one shot per turn. And five minutes later Smalling completes the endless run to victory by pushing a free kick from the newly entered Veretout into the net. The Olimpico explodes with joy. The Salernitana bows and sees more and more the abyss of the B.