A golden point and a lot of suffering. Roma stopped Atletico Madrid 0-0 in the Olimpico's friend's bowl and thus brought home a heavy draw, all the more in the light of how the match went. The palm of the man of the match, in fact, is taken without discussion by the Brazilian Alisson, who definitely did not regret the "old" colleague Szczesny by preventing the Spaniards from scoring on numerous occasions.
Miracles in series for the yellow and red number one, testifying to an evening in which essentially the result to be saved is above all. Of course, the strength of Atletico Madrid shouldn't be forgotten and in this sense the boos from a part of the Olimpico have been at least ungenerous. The problem is that the Giallorossi people still have the last few seasons of "Spallettian" football in their heads: no titles, all right, but a decidedly entertaining game, albeit a lot of satisfactions in the European arena.
And so this version of Di Francesco leaves us a bit perplexed, especially from a physical point of view: Roma last for a time, then, as against Inter, they leave the field and the initiative to their opponents. So Alisson had been unable to do anything, yesterday evening instead, thanks to the post (sensational that of Saul in full recovery), he gave him a good point. To get through such a group (Chelsea have already shown their strength with the 6-0 win at Qarabag) much more will be needed, but in the meantime, however, waiting for better times, there is this draw that makes the rankings and morale.
And if the referee Mazic had conceded a sacrosanct penalty by the hand of Vietto on a cross from Perotti (23'), perhaps we would even be talking about a victory. "We were facing an important team like Atletico and our goalkeeper did his duty - Di Francesco's analysis - We were unlucky with Inter, today we played an excellent first half, then I was forced to change form to find balance because they put us in difficulty. We did well for sixty minutes, then we got into trouble”.
Tonight it will be Napoli's turn to try to revive Italian football. The Azzurri will make their debut in this edition of the Champions League in Donetsk, against Portuguese Paulo Fonseca's Shakhtar. On paper, the Azzurri start as favorites but the hosts shouldn't be underestimated: first in the league ahead of Dinamo Kiev, they can count on better physical condition (the Ukrainian Premier is already on matchday eight) and on a great international experience, due to numerous participations in the Champions League.
“It's a strong team, little known in Italy but used to playing the game – commented Maurizio Sarri, who finally returned to speak at the press conference – They attack a lot and they will make us suffer, but we too will certainly have the opportunity to hurt them . In a group of six matches, the first can be conditioning, if we want to get off to a good start and get on the road to qualifying we have to win”.
In short, attacking Naples, as always. In the last few games we have seen a less beautiful but more cynical team, a positive factor for the critics but not for the blue coach. “Our goal is to dominate from start to finish – he continued. – That's why I'm not satisfied with how we played against Atalanta and Bologna, we got two victories but if we continue like this we risk paying the bill".
To return to the usual glories, we will continue to focus on the 4-3-3 with Reina in goal, Hysaj, Albiol, Koulibaly and Ghoulam in defense, Allan, Diawara and Hamsik in midfield, Callejon, Milik (favorite over Mertens) and Insigne in attack . Fonseca will respond by deploying his Shakhtar with a 4-2-3-1 formation with Pyatov in goal, Srna, Rakitski, Kryvtsov and Ismaily in the back, Fred and Stepanenko in the midfield, Bernard, Kovalenko and Dentinho in the trocar behind the only tip Ferreyra.
