A goal by Edin Dzeko and Alessandro Florenzi’s first scoring after one year propitiated Roma’s 2-0 victory in San Siro against Milan. Coach Eusebio Di Francesco’s squad captured their fifth win in six Serie A games this year, while for Vincenzo Montella’s Rossoneri this is the second loss in a row, and the third one in seven matches played so far.
And while after the match Milan’s Director of Football Massimiliano Mirabelli was quick to declare that Montella is not at risk, one cannot but notice that his boys failed once again to deliver when the opponents were above the average. Lazio, Sampdoria and now Roma exposed the limits of the Rossoneri new course and their lack of execution on the offensive side – the only serious attempt to score today coming from Leonardo Bonucci, not exactly the one who should be leading his team’s attacking power.
Next campionato game, after the break due to the Nazionale games in the qualification round for World Cup 2018, will be an extremely sensitive derby against Inter, who already has seven points more than their city cousins.
Conversely, Roma continues the pursuit to the Serie A leading pack – still with one match to catch up – and can look straight head to the upcoming home battle against Napoli two weeks from now. Giallorossi cynically capitalized on their chances today, converting two out of the three real occasions they had to score in a match that – if truth be told – offered very few emotions to the 62000 spectators of San Siro Stadium.
Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko added the seventh mark to his seasonal scoring tally by choosing the right spot with a long range shot that was slightly deflected by Milan’s defender Alessio Romagnoli – just enough to put the ball out of Gianluigi Donnarumma’s reach.
A few minutes later, Alessandro Florenzi, who has just come back after a one-year absence due to a severe injury, called his personal ordeal to an end when he was quick enough to tap the ball in for his squad’s 2-0, after Donnarumma had parried back a shot by Radja Nainggolan. Florenzi, who had already come close to score earlier in the game – when a perfect pass from Lorenzo Pellegrini put him in from of Milan’s goalkeeper, good enough on the occasion – proved to be the real added value for coach Di Francesco: the former Sassuolo trainer lined him up as a right winger in his 4-3-3 module to cope with the absence of Diego Perotti.
Montella insisted with his 3-5-2 lineup, this time deploying newcomers André Silva and Nikola Kalinic on the offensive line, and leaving Suso on the bench. Fabio Borini, who had disputed his best season right when playing for Roma in 2011-12, was positioned on the right flank to sustain a 5-men midfield: He played a generous match, sacrificing himself to contain Stephan El Shaarawy, and producing those few crosses on which his teammates struggled to put up something that could resemble a threat to the goal guarded by Allison Becker.
Roma goalie’s only true save indeed came on a shot by Leonardo Bonucci at the end of a confused play in Giallorossi’s box. Too little for a team whose Summer ambitions are experiencing a painful reality check.
MATCH REPORT
MILAN-ROMA 0-2
SCORERS: 72’ Dzeko; 77’ Florenzi
MILAN (3-5-2): G. Donnarumma; Musacchio, Bonucci, Romagnoli; Borini (84’ Bonaventura), Kessie, Biglia, Calhanoglu, Rodriguez; André Silva, Kalinic (79’ Cutrone). (Storari, A. Donnarumma, Paletta, Zapata, Abate, Calabria, Mauri, Locatelli, Montolivo, Suso). Coach: Montella
ROMA (4-3-3): Alisson; Bruno Peres, Manolas (86’ Juan Jesus), Fazio, Kolarov; Strootman (30’ Pellegrini), De Rossi, Nainggolan; Florenzi, Dzeko, El Shaarawy (78 Gerson). (Skorupski, Lobont, Moreno, Castan, Gonalons, Antonucci, Under). Coach: Di Francesco
REFEREE: Mr. Banti from Livorno
NOTES: Spectators: 61698; Yellow Cards: Biglia (M), Dzeko (R); Red Card: Calhanoglu (M
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