La Rome is approaching the Champions League, the Lazio sinks to eighth place. Monday of opposite moods in the capital, with the Giallorossi doing very well at beating the Torino despite the European waste and the defeated Biancocelesti Florence. The ranking, waiting for the recoveries on Wednesday (Inter-Atalanta and Sassuolo-Napoli), smiles at De Rossi, the only one left in the wake of Thiago Motta and Gasperini, while Sarri has to deal with yet another misstep in a season, at least so far, decidedly beyond below expectations. Fiorentina, for their part, smiles again after a very complicated period and moves up to seventh place: the Champions League is still far away, but the other cups are not.
Rome – Turin 3-2: a super Dybala brings De Rossi to within 4 of the Champions League
Roma's ride does not stop, having reached the fifth win in the last six of championship. If we add to these the qualification for the round of 16 of the Europa League at the expense of Feyenoord, the De Rossi's (almost) triumphal outcome on the Giallorossi bench, exceeding even the most optimistic expectations.
DDR took a team in great difficulty both technically and mentally and transformed it into one beautiful and carefree creature, capable of playing openly and making his quality count. Yesterday there were many pitfalls starting from the physicality of Juric's Torino, always uncomfortable with that mix of tactics and physicality: not the best for those coming from the 120' (plus penalties) on Thursday and in fact the Granata cradled the coup for the whole first half, coming close to scoring the lead several times, although it is fair to say that Kristensen had the first chance to score (sensational post).
In cases like these, the quality of the champion must emerge and take center stage Paulo Dybala, author of one of the best matches since wearing this shirt. The Argentine scored the penalty to make it 1-0 (42', foul by Sazonov on Azmoun), but Toro equalized immediately with Zapata (44'), going into half-time at 1-1. In the second half, however, Joya literally dragged her teammates along, finding the 2-1 with a splendid left-footed shot from distance (57', Milinkovic-Savic not without faults) and the third goal after a nice combination with Lukaku (69'), who entered shortly before in Azmoun's place. In the final, the Granata tried to restart the match with Huijsen's own goal (89'), but Roma did not panic, taking home a precious success: next weekend there will be a direct clash between Atalanta and Bologna and she, by winning in Monza, could take advantage of it.
De Rossi: "I like to win through suffering, but this was a match to 'kill' before"
“Torino didn't give up and we suffered, I like to win matches by suffering until the end, but this was a match that had to be 'killed' – De Rossi's comment -. We could have managed it better, we knew it would be tough, but I think we also did some good things. The equalizer just before half-time would have killed anyone, but instead we did well. Brighton? I fear a strong team with a balanced squad and a coach who for me remains one of the strongest in Italy and Europe. We have nothing to fear, Brighton will take away some nights' sleep from me, but De Zerbi won't be very happy with this draw either."
Dybala scares the fans: "I don't know what will happen in the future, in the meantime I'm enjoying the present"
"I've been wanting to score a hat-trick for a while – Dybala rejoiced -. I already wanted her against Cagliari, but she arrived here and served to win. It was a difficult moment in the match: Torino were creating danger for us and the match could have evolved in any way. I kicked and went to celebrate with the fans, to whom I owe a huge thank you. When I arrived in Rome I said that it felt like I had been here forever. I don't know what the future holds for me, but I definitely enjoy the present."
Fiorentina – Lazio 2-1: Luis Alberto deceives Sarri, Kayode and Bonaventura sign the Viola comeback
There was also a fireworks display in Florence, where Fiorentina and Lazio put on a decidedly entertaining show. The credit, to tell the truth, belongs entirely to the gods viola, authors of the best match of the year, understood as 2024: a two-month period that started very badly, so much so that a lot of points were thrown away and slipped to seventh place, but who knows, maybe yesterday's test might mark a turning point. Sarri, however, returns home empty-handed and it certainly cannot be said that he did not deserve it: his Lazio offered a subpar performance just like Thursday in Turin, this time however they were unable to get to the bottom of it, suffering a disastrous defeat. And to say that the Biancocelesti, despite suffering throughout the first half (just think that Fiorentina took three posts with Nico Gonzalez, Belotti and Biraghi), managed to close with a one-goal lead thanks to a lethal counterattack on theGuendouzi-Luis Alberto axis, with the Spaniard very cold in beating the innocent Terracciano (46').
It seemed like yet another chapter of purple sauce jokes, but instead the Italiano team returned from the locker room with even more anger and desire to win. And so, after a couple of dangerous occasions, here is the equalizer from Kayode (61'), the missed penalty by Nico Gonzalez (fourth pole of the evening) and the winning tap-in by Bonaventura (69'), to certify Fiorentina's deserved turnaround. Lazio? All in some long throw without too much conviction, as if she didn't even believe it. The season has reached a crossroads and only a feat in Munich could give it meaning: first, however, there will be Milan and there it will be understood whether the European hopes will still have meaning or will have to end up in the drawer of regrets.
Sarri furious: "Flat and unstructured team to play more competitions"
"The team didn't react to an undeserved advantage and not even to a missed penalty – Sarri's analysis -. It was flat throughout the match on a mental level, there is also some mitigating factor given that three players took to the field with flu symptoms, others with training in a month, three other players would have needed to take a breather. There was a risk of a decline, but it was a little too pronounced. At this point I wonder if we have the material and also mental structure to do three-four competitionsthe. The Champions League race? We are in a very difficult position, this is quite evident. The reason why I ask the team to concentrate match after match is precisely this, even if this trickle of matches will continue for a while yet: we hope to be able to give someone a breather and return in better physical and mental conditions".
Italian rejoices: “Stunning performance, it was an immense joy”
“We are finally here managed to beat Lazio after three years – underlined Italiano -. It's an immense joy, the performance was amazing and above all we managed to put them in difficulty after having collected one point in three years. When you play with this quality you can also come back, we even missed a penalty, but the attitude was extraordinary. Am I impassive about goals? We are used to bad surprises, celebrating wasn't the idea, Lazio have quality and even if it wasn't too much on the day it can always hurt you. The penalty missed by Nico Gonzalez? He guaranteed me that next time he will shoot it again and score it, if he doesn't do it they will be damned (laughs, ed.)”.
