Three First-Half Goals Earn Roma Comfortable Win Against Verona

In the final match-up of Serie A Round 20, Paulo Fonseca’s Roma were looking to return to the top four  as they hosted the joint-best defensive team in the Serie A this season in Hellas Verona. Before the game, the hosts were only two points behind third-placed Juventus, while the visitors had the chance to break into the top eight if they managed to come away with a point at least.

In the end, it was Roma who celebrated a well-deserved victory as three first-half goals from the home side sank Verona’s ship. The visitors conceded three goals for the first time this Serie A season but remain ninth in the league standings with 30 points.

The two managers opted for identical tactical formations in 3-4-2-1. Fonseca was missing his key man and the second-highest scorer with seven Serie A goals this season in Edin Dzeko, who was replaced by 23-year-old Spaniard Borja Mayoral. Roma’s two most creative players in Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Lorenzo Pellegrini – who have assisted 12 times combined so far this season – were deployed in central attacking midfield roles to support the Spanish striker.

In contrast, Mattia Zaccagni and Antonin Barak – who have scored nine goals and assisted six times combined this Serie A season, were Verona’s biggest threat going forward in this game, with the 33-year-old Croatian center-forward Nikola Kalinic leading the line for the visitors.

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Here is our starting XI for tonight's game in Rome!
#ASRoma #RomaVerona pic.twitter.com/aWLp7hCJal

— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) January 31, 2021

 

The visitors from Verona started the game stronger and enjoyed larger spells of possession in the opening ten minutes but overall posed little threat in the attacking third of the pitch. Roma’s active first-line press forced Verona to go long most of the time, looking for the lone striker Kalinic, who was fairly easily neutralized by the home team’s center-backs.

An active start to the game was interrupted at the ten minutes mark when Roma were forced to make an early change. The home side’s most consistent and reliable defender this season, Chris Smalling, limped off the pitch due to a hamstring injury and had to be replaced by Marash Kumbulla.

Although both teams looked active in possession, they were severely lacking quality in the final third in the opening 20 minutes. In fact, neither of the two teams had a single attempt at goal until Borja Mayoral managed to beat a couple of players and unleashed a shot from the edge of the box, but his effort slipped just wide of the right post and earned Roma their first corner of the game.

It turned out to be a perfectly taken corner kick as Lorenzo Pellegrini swung the ball in from the right, with Gianluca Mancini out jumping his direct opponent Antonin Barak and heading the ball home to make it 1-0 to the hosts.

Immediately after opening the score, Roma kept on piling pressure and ended up scoring their second of the night thanks to a disastrous collapse in Verona’s defense. Mayoral got himself through on goal completely unmarked, went round the goalkeeper and rolled the ball across to the feet of Henrikh Mkhitaryan who took a great first touch and drilled a low shot into the bottom left corner.

After going two goals up, Roma did not stop and sought to kill the game off at the earliest opportunity. In the 29^th minute, the home team did indeed kill the game off after Pellegrini’s volley from the edge of the box was blocked away by the goalkeeper but Mayoral found himself in the right place at the right time and tapped the ball into an open goal.

NOI IN CAMPO COSÌ ?
FORZA VERONA ??#DaiVerona #SerieATIM #RomaVerona #lastoriAcontinuA pic.twitter.com/qOFslAfgTu

— Hellas Verona FC (@HellasVeronaFC) January 31, 2021

 

Verona were completely shell shocked by the three goals conceded, with Roma’s active press in midfield causing the visitors major problems when trying to play the ball out from the back. As a result, Verona did not have a single attempt at goal in the first 40 minutes of the game.

Despite a 3-0 lead at half-time, Roma did not sit back trying to protect their lead in the next 45 minutes. Three minutes into the second half, Pellegrini latched on to a perfect cross from the wing into the penalty area but sent his bullet header narrowly over the crossbar. A couple of minutes later, Leonardo Spinazzola received an accurate pass on the edge of the box and unleashed a shot which went wide of the mark.

On the other end, Verona continued to struggle against Roma’s active press in deeper zones. The visitors simply could not get passed Roma’s first line of the press, whilst the home side were winning the ball high up the pitch time after time and broke away in numbers.

In the 58^th minute, Roma nearly got their rewards as Spinazzola found himself on the end of a glorious counterattacking move, but his shot towards the bottom right corner was brilliantly saved by Marco Silvestri.

Eventually, after 60 minutes of little to no threat in front of the opposing goal, Verona created their first real chance of the game. Daniel Bessa played a marvelous cross into the penalty area where Ebrima Colley was the first to latch on to it as the 20-year-old Gambian fired the ball into the back of the net, making it 3-1 to the visitors.

The final half an hour turned out to be a formality as Verona were simply incapable of finding the second goal. All in all, Roma secured their second straight win in the Serie A and have climbed into the third place in the league standings.  

 

MATCH REPORT

January 31, 2021 – Serie A 2020-2021 Round 20
ROMA-VERONA 3-1

SCORERS: 20′ Mancini (R), 22′ Mkhitaryan (R), 29′ Borja Mayoral (R), 62′ Colley (V)

REFEREE: Mr. Piccinini from Forlì
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Pellegrini, Kumbulla (R), Faraoni (V); Extra Time: First Half 2′, Second Half 3′