Well, there’s our first Roma Happened of the season. Where to even start?
There was huge anticipation for Wednesday’s game as Real Madrid rolled into town. Finally, for the first time since 2019, Roma got to host a Champions League match again. Not only that, but one against one of the most illustrious teams in the world, who brought a certain José Mourinho back to the Olimpico with them.
This had all the hallmarks of a big European night for Roma, but even with how strong the Serie A form has been recently, few would have predicted them to be as competitive as they turned out to be against a star-studded side like Madrid.
And yet Roma found themselves taking the lead in the first half, then even being 3-1 up with 10 minutes left. Up until that point, it was about to go down in history as one of their most famous Champions League performances. Sure, it’s been so long away from this kind of stage that it’s easy to jump to that conclusion, but it was a genuinely thrilling display and could have been an all-timer of a result.
Alas, a late collapse saw Roma fall to a 4-3 loss, with the familiar – and apologetic – Antonio Rüdiger scoring the winner in the 90th minute. What on earth had just happened?
As the dust settles and we try and make sense of it all, here are three things we learned.
Without Fear
The Curva Sud proudly displayed a tifo before kick-off reading ‘Sine Muto’. Now, we’d have to brush up on our Latin, but we can confirm that means ‘Without Fear’.
It’s one thing for the fans to unfurl such a bold statement of intent, but what about those doing the business on the pitch? Would the tactics match that kind of approach? You bet they would.
For the first 20 minutes, Roma were all over Madrid. The intensity was high and you could sense Roma were going for the jugular early on. Some lackadaisical passing by the visitors played into the hosts’ hands, but Gian Piero Gasperini’s men had set their stall out regardless.
Their front-footed approach paid off when Maarten de Roon swung in the opening goal from outside the box to open his account for the club. The Olimpico erupted.
Even when Madrid responded with a deflected Kylian Mbappé effort, it didn’t knock the wind out of Roma’s sails. They kept pushing like they had from minute one. This was a team – or at least a group of players at that particular moment – unfazed by the calibre of opposition. And on paper, that opposition represents the second toughest team Roma will face in the league phase, behind defending champions PSG.
By the end of the first half, Roma had enjoyed more possession than Madrid and attempted twice as many shots. Home advantage will have counted for something, but you would not have guessed the difference in expectations if you had no prior knowledge.
As we know, it all ultimately unravelled, but Roma can seriously take heart from how they approached the challenge. On this evidence, they are not here to make up the numbers. It’ll take time to see if Roma have enough in the tank to go far in the competition, but this was encouraging.
Set-piece setbacks
There was a glaring, unfortunate pattern with how Madrid scored their three comeback goals in the last 10 minutes. All materialised from corners.
First, Endrick headed the ball goalward after a delivery from the left. Pierluigi Gollini could only parry it into the path of Carlos Espi, with Evan Ndicka sucked out of position and Nahuel Molina caught sleeping at the back post. 3-2.
Then, just two minutes later, Endrick rose highest (Leonardo Balerdi being outjumped after De Roon lost track) to head in Arda Güler’s corner. This time, the Brazilian – once linked with Roma over the summer – hit the target with enough power not to need anyone to bundle in a rebound. 3-3.
And finally, an inswinger from Güler on the other side was converted by Rüdiger. Molina was once again at the scene of the crime. 3-4.
The spotlight is on stand-in goalkeeper Gollini as well. Would Mile Svilar have shown more authority in the box, maybe being able to claim a cross or pull off a point-blank save? You never know, but his ability always gives Roma a chance.
There’s a clear drop-off to Gollini, as well as he did at the weekend against Como. It would be a touch unfair to go in too hard on him – he was generally competent in open play, making four saves – but this was an occasion when Svilar’s absence was felt.
But regardless of the goalkeeper, there’s clearly something to work on when it comes to defending set pieces. Yes, Roma were without some of their main defenders at the time, with Gianluca Mancini and Mario Hermoso having been withdrawn. Unless there were any physical problems there, that’s a debate in itself with regards to Gasperini’s in-game management. But even those on the pitch should have known their duties from set pieces and been able to put up a challenge. I mean, come on, Endrick isn’t even six feet tall and he changed the game with two uncontested headers.
Roma clearly need to sharpen up at defending set pieces or else it could become their Achilles heel.
Mora is ready
There were a couple of early changes for Roma, with Manu Koné forced off in the first half and Paulo Dybala not emerging for the second. Koné looked to be in some discomfort when he went off, while you fear the worst any time Dybala gets taken off.
Both were replaced by two of the younger prospects among Roma’s first team: Niccolò Pisilli and Rodrigo Mora. They were both second-half subs in Roma’s first Champions League game this season against Fenerbahçe and only Pisilli played any part – just a couple of minutes at the end – against Como on Sunday. This was a tough challenge for them to join in progress and get up to speed for.
But there were some particularly encouraging signs from Mora, who stepped up in the left-sided attacking midfield role. A suitable foil to two-assist Matías Soulé on the opposite side, Mora adapted quickly and showed some promise with his technique and agility.
His best moment was his well-weighted pass to set up Malen’s goal to make it 2-1, just five or so minutes after coming on. For a teenager making just his second Champions League cameo against the best team he’ll have faced in his career so far, the composure was excellent.
Mora finished the game with an 82% passing accuracy and 10 carries. He fit in well with the pace of the game and looks worthy of further opportunities.
Gasperini has been patient with him so far, and rightly so, but Mora has given his coach a reason to trust him going forward.