Juventus 3 A.S Roma 1FT
Following an important 3-1 victory away at Genoa this weekend Roma would have another shot at Juventus in the Coppa Italia quarter finals. Last year Roma were eliminated in The quarterfinals to Florentina in one of the most embarrassing performances of the season as Roma laid an egg in a 7-1 loss. Roma just needed one Victory to make the semi-final for the first time in three seasons. The problem was they had to go to the Allianz Arena in Turin to achieve that. Juventus and roma had played a week earlier at the stadio olimpico in a match that Roma nearly could have won. In that game Roma fell behind 2-0 then dominated the rest of the match. Roma created so many chances in that game and still ended up with no points as they lost a very close battle in Rome. It was going to be more difficult this time around having to go into that stadium and beat the defending Champions. Much like the match earlier it started off as bad as you can possibly imagine. Roma went down early and never recovered. Cristiano Ronaldo would open up the scoring for Juventus giving them the 1-0 lead. Prior to that it was a very open game.. That would be only the beginning Rodrigo Bentancur and Leonardo bonucci both scored to end the first half as Juventus had already built a 3-0 lead. Roma did eventually get one back thanks to an own goal from a Gigi Buffon. Roma tried to build an improbable to build comeback but ultimately there was too much damage done in the first half as Juventus move on to the Coppa Italia semi-final in what was a 3-1 victory for Juventus as they give themselves a great opportunity to win the trophy at the end of the season.
Roma lined up out of their typical 4-2-3-1 formation. In goal as always would be Paul Lopez. The backline would look very similar to what we saw over the weekend. At left-back would be Alex Kolarov, beside him would be the centre-back partnership of Chris Smalling and Gianluca Mancini then patrolling the right back position would be Roma Captain Alessandro Florenzi. In the defensive Midfield we would see the duo of Bryan Cristante and Diawara. In the attacking Midfield as always in the central position would be Lorenzo Pellegrini. On the left wing would be Justin kluivert and then on the opposite side on the right wing would be Cengiz Under. Then Up front as the main Striker was Nikola kalinic as Edin Dzeko is still serving a suspension from his incident in Florenence last season.
After preparation and predictions the match got underway in Turin at the Allianz Stadium. Roma against Juventus and always thrilling matchup between two heavyweights with a place in a Coppa Italia semi-finals at stake. Very early in the match Cristiano Ronaldo tried to give Juventus an early lead as the Portuguese Superstar missed from the side of the box. Following the early Chance by Juventus it was a lot of possession football. Roma we’re doing a good job on trying to keep them at arm’s length it worked initially but eventually it would break down. At the 20-minute mark Justin kluivert try to give Roma a chance a strike from the center of the box went far too high. Juventus would retaliate on their next opportunity they would have the chance to push themselves in front and they would not be denied. In the 26th minute Cristiano Ronaldo drills a strike into the bottom corner from the side of the box as a Juventus convert on their first real chance of the game to take a 1-0 lead. Momentum was certainly with the defending Champions adds Juventus found their footing and once again Roma would fall behind very early by multiple goals. In the 38th minute they struck again as Rodrigo bentancur buried Juventus second goal in the left corner as Juventus ran out to a 2-0 lead. It would go from bad to worse for Roma who were struggling to even find themselves in the game who were struggling to even find themselves in the game in stoppage time a Leonardo bonucci header gave Juventus a insurmountable lead as they took a 3-0 lead. It was a good start for Roma but they just collapsed after the first goal after 45 minutes it was already nearly over.
Justin kluivert was taken off at half-time after a less-than-stellar performance. despite that I thought it was unnecessary Justin kluivert is the most explosive player on Roma and without Edin Dzeko this really seemed like a mistake. Roma came to live in the second half as they had some opportunities to at least start to break through. Lorenzo Pellegrini and Nikola kalinic both were denied by the keeper. Despite that it looks like Roma we’re playing hyper-aggressive football trying to get back into the game. In the 50th minute Cengiz hit the cross bar from outside the box shortly after Gigi before made a catastrophic mistake putting the ball into back of his own net to give roma some hope. Despite getting back into the game they still had a lot of work to do. It continued to be possession football as there weren’t as many free flowing chances as in previous games. Florenzi try to pull one past Juventus but his shot from the side of the box was saved. It really seemed like Juve was just trying to ride out the game. Midway through the second half comes out what he was saying came close but Pau Lopez dealt with it. Juventus was in cruise control and Roma couldn’t do anything about it. Roma had a couple of chances late to minimize the deficit but they certainly were not at their best. Following a miss from Cristiano Ronaldo. Gianluca Mancini, and Davie Santon but were unable to break through. Then in stoppage time two late chances from Kolarov just didn’t have enough on them as Juventus first-half dominance being the difference as Juventus go on to win 3-1 as they are through to the Coppa Italia semi-final.
Roma did a good job getting to the quarterfinals of the Coppa Italia but unfortunately the road would end on Wednesday night. They went up against Juventus for the second time in a week sadly the results wouldn’t be any different from the first time around. Much like the opening game Roma put themselves in a hole and made it nearly impossible to dig themselves out of it. Roma were already down by three goals in the opening 45 minutes. They eventually got a goal back thanks to a Gigi Buffon mistake what over the match they did not do a good enough job coming through when they needed it. There were a lot of issues in this match Roma even though the score line doesn’t tell the entire story. Roma we’re just missing a clinical finisher up front. The difference was Juventus took advantage of their opportunities and Roma failed to do so yet again. Roma did not have Edin Dzeko available because of his suspension for spitting on the referee last year during the match against Florentina. This may have cost them in the long run in this match. Everything that I said about Juventus this season has been proven right Juventus has winning intangibles they have dealt with all different types of circumstances and are able to adapt. Roma got down in this game and lost belief that is the difference. The difference in quality was somewhat clear even though Roma didn’t necessarily play badly that little advantage that Juventus had made the biggest difference. This is why Juvetus will go on to win the league title again. This club has a tradition of winning coaches and players do change but the core of Juventus Still Remains the Same there are several players who have been through multiple titles with this team and know how to win some ugly matches. Juventus already know how to win while Roma even though they’ve made massive progression this season are still learning how to win at this level. Paulo Fonseca has done a phenomenal job with this team but it is clear there is still quite a distance between them. The man of the match tonight goes to diawara he has been nothing short of sensational this season one of the most underrated signings in Europe. He has the potential to become the best defensive midfielder in Italian football. Even though Roma did not have a particularly strong game he seems to only improve to every match he plays. Although the performance left something to be desired this may be a blessing in disguise. This will give Roma the opportunity to focus on getting into the champions league as well as trying to fight their way through No Europa League in hopes of lifting the trophy at the end of it.
Everything Roma 