Roma showed mental fortitude to avoid defeat in Tuscany, scoring a last-minute equalizer to hold Fiorentina to a dramatic 2-2 draw. Giallorossi were on the verge of collapse heading into the last ten minutes but weathered the storm to close the gap on fourth-placed Bologna to three points.
Despite canceling Luca Ranieri’s opener early in the second half through Houssem Aouar, Roma found themselves in an almost impossible situation in the last quarter of the game. Rolando Mandragora restored La Viola’s lead before Leandro Paredes gave away a cheap penalty in the 80th minute.
However, Mile Svilar denied Cristiano Biraghi from the spot to give Roma a fighting chance down the final stretch. Daniele De Rossi’s side grabbed the lifeline deep into stoppages as Diego Llorente volleyed home a superb strike in the last seconds to steal a point at Stadio Artemio Franchi.
De Rossi made several strange tactical choices, including reverting his formation to a 3-5-2, with Gianluca Mancini playing as a makeshift right-back before being subbed off around the half-hour mark due to injury. After the match, he admitted his Roma players are no longer comfortable playing with three men at the back.
“Whenever I saw the team running on empty, I tried to move them back to a system they used for many years and felt comfortable with. I remember they were very difficult to score against when playing with five at the back,” the Roma boss said, as quoted by TMW.
“However, maybe they are rejecting that system now, like a body with a new organ,” he joked.
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