A league: Roma-InterSaturday LIVE from 18
Five games, fifteen points available and a Champions League sprint amidst the injury emergency and Mourinho’s discontent for a short squad and a future in the capital that is far from certain. So Roma are waiting for Inter at the Olimpico tomorrow. That of the coach is a fate that will largely depend on whether or not he reaches fourth place at the end of the championship, despite the fact that the discussion with the owners about his third year in Trigoria has been postponed since January has made the Special One unwell. Never like today, in fact, Mourinho and the club appear distant, on the eve of the match against Inter silent after the storm in Monza. As already done other times in the past, in these cases the coach prefers the strategy of tension, attracting attention, comments and criticisms, but compacting the team towards a single goal. On the other hand, although “the squad isn’t built to play every three days” (Mou’s words), fourth place is only two points away and for this reason the match against the Nerazzurri at the Olimpico will be a fundamental sliding door. Winning or drawing everything would still be open, while the defeat would almost definitively cut Roma out of the race for fourth place which at that point would be 5 points behind. Unlike the first leg (won at San Siro), Dybala, this time, if he plays, he won’t do it as a false nine, but alongside Abraham, but taking over in the second half. In fact, the Argentine’s conditions are not yet the best and the match plan should include his entry in the second half to try to be a starter then Thursday in Europe against Bayer Leverkusen. The rest of Mourinho’s choices will be obligatory because the injuries of El Shaarawy, Kumbulla, Karsdorp, Wijnaldum Smalling and Llorente, combined with Celik’s disqualification, do not allow who knows what calculations. So Cristante will be forced to play defense with Matic back in the middle of the field and the Bove-Pellegrini pair on either side, in a 3-5-2 that if tomorrow morning’s tryout is successful will allow the Portuguese to at least have Belotti at the flank of Abraham from the start. Otherwise he will still play Solbakken with the Englishman.
Woe to underestimating a wounded Rome with a full infirmary. This is the message that Inter coach Simone Inzaghi wanted to send to his players on the eve of another crucial direct match in the race for the next Champions League. The nerazzurri are looking for the next fourth in a row in the league, which would allow them to stretch in the fight to enter the top four in the standings. Inzaghi knows this and for this reason he doesn’t want any drop in tension, nor that his mind already goes to next Wednesday’s Champions League derby against Milan. “Certainly the three matches won in a row were very important, but we are also aware of the importance of tomorrow’s match. We face a team of absolute value: we have to prepare ourselves in the best possible way”, Inzaghi said on Inter TV on the eve of the challenge with Rome. “I expect a match against a strong, valuable team coached by an excellent coach. We know it will be a match with many pitfalls and very important for both of them’s standings – he added -. The hope for this final is to have a “Inter will always try to improve match by match, we know the calendar we’ve faced and what awaits us. I’ll always want a lot of concentration, but I’m confident because I have a united and cohesive group.” A group that got back up after a difficult moment and now wants to continue racing in this season finale. In this sense, the return to goal of his bombers, from Lukaku to Dzeko up to Lautaro Martinez, was decisive. “It’s very important to have regained the goals, but as I had already said, it was a moment – commented Inzaghi -. We know that strikers sometimes experience these moments, but I was quite confident, I saw them all working every day in the best possible way. Now I’m happy that we’re back to scoring with some regularity, not just the forwards but also all the other players.” In the head, however, there will not already be the Champions League. So tomorrow the owners will return, from Barella to Bastoni, even if Inzaghi has lost D’Ambrosio to a muscle problem. “Rotations are essential for us because we’re playing a lot, there’s a game every 72 hours. The help of the entire squad available is essential,” concluded the Inter coach.
Probable formations
Rome (3-5-2): 1 Rui Patricio; 23 Mancini, 4 Cristante, 3 Ibanez; 59 Zalewski, 7 Pellegrini, 8 Matic, 52 Bove, 37 Spinazzola; 18 Solbakken, 9 Abraham. (99 Svilar, 63 Boer, 26 Louakima, 68 Tahirovic, 20 Camara, 62 Volpato, 21 Dybala, 11 Belotti). Coach Mourinho Suspended: Celik Warning: Dybala, Ibanez Out: El Shaaeawy, Karsdorp, Kumbulla, Llorente, Smalling, Wijnaldum
Inter (3-5-2): 24 Onanas; 36 Darmian, 15 Unripe, 95 Staves; 2 Dumfries, 23 Barella, 77 Brozovic, 20 Calhanoglu, 32 Dimarco; 11 Correa, 90 Lukaku (1 Handanovic, 21 Cordaz, 5 Gagliardini, 6 De Vrii, 9 Dzeko, 10 Lautaro, 12 Bellanova, 14 Asllani, 22 Mkhitaryan, 45 Carboni). All.: S. Inzaghi. Disqualified: none. Be wary: Acerbi, Dumfries, Mkhitaryan. Unavailable: Skriniar, Gosens, D’Ambrosio.