The anti-Juve is called Rome. Suspicion becomes certainty after last night's match, which saw the Giallorossi prevail over Milan thanks to a goal by Nainggolan. Suffering victory and essentially linked to the episodes, and precisely this even heavier: Spalletti's team was asked to learn how to take full loot even on the most difficult days and the lesson, which was moreover consecutive to a more or less equal derby, would seem head entry.
Milan, paradoxically, come out better after this defeat than in other victories: Montella's team faced the challenge head-on, managing to impose themselves from the point of view of the game as almost never this season.
But in football, as we know, episodes are crucial, especially in tight matches like yesterday's. Niang's missed penalty had the classic sliding-doors effect: it could have been 1-0 for the Rossoneri, with the second half to be played after the restart just the way they like it.
Instead, the Frenchman, for the second consecutive time, let himself be hypnotized by the spot and the match took a completely different direction. There are therefore 3 fundamental points left for Roma, who will now be able to go to Turin to play for the direct confrontation attacked in the standings: on Saturday evening we will understand if there really can be a fight for the Scudetto, in the meantime, however, Juve are warned.
“Now we can think about it, but first we have to regain some energy – commented Spalletti. – It wasn't easy to beat Milan, they knew how to put us in trouble by playing as a team but we were good at bringing this victory home."
Decisive, as mentioned above, two episodes. The first is Niang's penalty, awarded by referee Mazzoleni for a clear foul by Szczesny on Lapadula (26'): the Frenchman kicked it badly and the goalkeeper was thus able to redeem his mistake.
The second instead is Nainggolan's goal, born from one of Milan's very few positioning mistakes: the Belgian, however, put his own into it, first with a great control on the fly and then with a left-footed shot that mocked Donnarumma (62' ). The Rossoneri tried to reopen the match but Roma didn't actually concede anything.
“If we want to summarize everything, let's think about the penalty and their goal – Montella's analysis. – The fact remains that we played a great match, with courage and maturity. The boys were very bitter, we didn't deserve this defeat but we are on the right track, we can be competitive. And in any case, our primary objective remains the Europa League”.
The play-off for second place, therefore, will be taken by Roma. Now we'll see if on Saturday he will be able to conquer that too for the first, not so hidden, true big dream of the entire yellow and red side of the capital.
