In the first leg of the quarter-finals, the European runners-up won narrowly.
Despite a season dominated in the league so far, Roma’s access to the UWCL finals already smacked of half a feat. And the quarter coupling with the Barcelona Women he immediately appeared as a stumbling block too big for the Giallorossi to overcome. The Catalans lead La Liga with full points and have reached the quota 57 game hitting streak (last defeat: 4-3 at Atletico Madrid, June 2021), they have lost only one match this season (3-1 in the group stage of the Champions League against Bayern Munich) and above all they have an apparently unrivaled technical and athletic quality for many teams, especially the Italian ones. However, against many expectations and at the end of a very complicated match, Barça’s narrow 1-0 win in a crowded Olympic Stadium leaves the qualification discussion potentially open.
Speaking of populated stadiums, the final figure for those present was 39,454 spectators, a record for Italian women’s football. Using the Olimpico was an almost obligatory choice for Rome, also taking advantage of the national teams’ break which stopped men’s Serie A: the Tre Fontane home stadium does not meet the UEFA parameters for the Champions League, and the team in the group stage he played at the Latina stadium, an inadequate option in many respects for the prestige of the match. AS Roma also followed (as usual) an intelligent policy on coupons, with reduced prices for free sale and free tickets for season-ticket holders. The result was a splendid audience, which in some ways alone repays the test (and the season) of the Giallorossi.
The tactical plan of the race
Alessandro Spugna’s team knew well that they were on a very different terrain than that of Serie A, where they can afford to play offensive football based on clear territorial domination. Against the Catalan 4-3-3 of the stars Walsh and Bonmatí, Roma initially lined up with a very conservative 4-4-1-1, with Andressa supporting Giacinti in the first press and a particularly compact low block careful not to grant depth. Countermeasures necessary to face a team like the one led by Jonathan Giráldez, which fully applies the principles of positional football from the Blaugrana school and boasts high technical quality in the middle of the pitch.
From the first minutes, what would have been the main problems for Roma became clear: it was very difficult to bring effective high pressing, complicated even just to try to contend for possession with the Blaugrana. For large stretches of the match, Bartoli and her companions had considerable difficulties in duels and in attacking second balls, as well as in developing the game by building from below. Barca he appeared superior in every technical and athletic respectforcing Roma to play a purely defensive match for at least an hour and abandoning Giacinti as forward.
Andressa Alves da Silva, playmaker for Roma.
From now on the position of Andressa supporting the center forward was a problem, also due to a negative approach to the Brazilian’s match: very nervous, often caught in the middle by the Catalan giropalla, she was unable to support the team’s ascent and was forced to repeatedly run backwards to help in coverage. Soon Spugna fell back on the more classic 4-3-3 by scaling her as midfielder, shortening her range of action and putting her shielding the dreaded Bonmatì. With that operation, however, Spugna effectively renounced any possibility of restarting, accepting at that point that the storm would pass bringing as little damage as possible.
Andressa’s lowering also served to partially buffer the difficulties of Minami to the left. The Japanese, grappling with yet another match as an adapted full back (she who is central and natural right), suffered a remarkable physical and technical mismatch with Graham and Bronze, also thanks to the lower propensity to withdraw from her flank partner Haavi.
To make a call to his male colleagues, the classic Roma di Spugna at the Olimpico she disguised herself as Mourinho’s Roma, both tactically and nervously: the first part of the match was lived with a knife between the teeth and the second with a certain amount of frustration, fueled by the impressive ease of possession and development of Barça’s action. Despite the great density made by Roma to cover the goal, any pressure attempt was canceled by the rapid triangulations of the Catalan midfielders and by the frequent changes of position to take away the marker. The exact situation that led to the match goal by Salmawhere a mistake in the climb on a pressure carried forward allowed the 19-year-old winger to receive a turn towards goal and place her left foot, after a desperate attempt to advance by Linari.
Roma, although able to hold their own in multiple situations and to play a long game of pure sacrifice, remained afloat mainly thanks to goalkeeper Camelia Caesar, author of repeated saves that are anything but simple. And in the long run his interventions (as well as a save by Linari on the goal line) meant a change of inertia in the match. The last twenty minutes saw a drop in man-on-man pressure from the Catalans, and Roma began to manage the ball effectively. Here the Giallorossi director in particular has risen to the chair Manuela Giuglianowith his dribbling qualities and above all verticalization.
Roma’s renewed ability to build effectively from below has made it possible on more than one occasion to seek and find the vertical path, thanks to Barcelona’s constant high (and distracted) defense. On the large spaces to attack, the Giallorossi have stung more than once, risking doing a lot of harm. But beyond a strictly tactical reading, there was an evident mental snap of Roma: having survived the storm, Spugna’s girls took courage and pulled out even unexpected physical and mental resources, especially given the nervous turn of the first half of the match.
If Barça legitimately did not change their tactical approach despite a more complex phase of the match, Giráldez’s team seemed to lose the leitmotif of the match at a certain point. The drop in pace and some moments of superficial management of possession exposed the Catalans to dangerous situations, with defensive transitions to be faced with equal numbers in which perhaps Roma could have even been more daring. It is significant that in the end at least two decisive interventions by Paños were needed to maintain the narrow lead.
The goalkeepers’ performances were decisive
Often one of the most critical roles in women’s football are goalkeepers, on average much shorter than their male colleagues and above all much less technically trained. This quarter-final instead showed two athletes guarding the posts in great shape. In fact, if the Giallorossi fort held out mainly thanks to the merits of Caesar, on the opposite side Paños was no less. Sponda Rome, the data (fonte fbref) speak all too clearly: 3.5 xG and 2.8 xG on target created by Barcelona, but only one goal scored. If the bad night of the center forward Oshoala contributed to this result (the occasion in the 49th minute is a goal devoured), the performance of the yellow and red number 12 was still extraordinary with nine saves on the scoresheet, some of which tasted miraculous.
Roma goalkeeper, Camelia Caesar
On the other hand, it asserted itself Sandra Cloths, sometimes considered the weak link in the Catalan war machine. Inactive for large stretches of the match, and although not free from mistakes that risked costing him dearly (a ball not held in the 80th minute from a cross by Haavi was extremely dangerous, but Andressa didn’t find the mirror), the Blaugrana goalkeeper placed at least three decisive saves in the final, in particular denying Giacinti’s goal in the 93rd minute, on a situation managed too superficially by the team coached by Giráldez.
With this result, Roma, who will also take advantage of the rest session in the championship, keep the door open for the semi-final, even if winning in Spain is something that goes beyond the feat. Wolfsburg succeeded last year, with a 0-2 draw that wasn’t enough to overturn the defeat in the first leg. To find an elimination of the Catalans between friendly walls, we need to go back to March 2018: 0-1 by Lyon, then European champions.
For those who wish, it is possible to retrieve the full match on the DAZN youtube channel dedicated to the UEFA Women’s Champions League.