One Point Each for Roma and Inter in Serie A Big Clash

Inter, Inter Milan, Italian Football, Roma, Serie A, Serie A 2020-2021 2 comments

Roma and Inter shared the spoils at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday afternoon at the end of a vibrant game whose 2-2 outcome will make Stefano Pioli and Milan happy.

Antonio Conte’s Nerazzurri managed to preserve their three-point lead over the home side – who came into the game with the idea of grabbing the second spot in the Serie A table – but, in turn, saw their gap from the cross-town Rossoneri widening to three points.

All in all, it was a fair outcome to a game that saw Roma playing better in the first half and deservingly putting themselves into the driving seat with a clinical Lorenzo Pellegrini finish. But Inter turned the table after the restart, stunning the Giallorossi with a powerful one-two before defender Gianluca Mancini would set the score at 2-2.

There were no big changes for Paulo Fonseca in his Roma lineup except for Leonardo Spinazzola retaking his spot on the left midfield side after a three-game absence. Pedro is still not available, thus Lorenzo Pellegrini is continuing to play alongside Henrikh Mhkitaryan behind lone striker Edin Dzeko. Differently from what rumored in the pre-match-day, it was Gonzalo Villar and not Bryan Cristante to join Jordan Veretout in the middle of the park.

Comparing to his mid-week setback against Sampdoria, Antonio Conte fully recovered Romelu Lukaku, the big Belgian ready to partner with Lautaro Martinez on the front-line. Matteo Darmian winning a spot as left wing-back instead of Englishman Ashley Young was Conte’s only surprise in his starting XI.

The match was off to a slow start, with the two sides having a cautious approach and taking some time to study each other.

Lautaro Martinez was the most active and did give a few causes for concern to Gianluca Mancini and Pau Lopez – forcing the latter into the first save of the game on 12 minutes. Lopez repeated himself immediately after on Lukaku, using his reflexes to push the Belgian’s aerial challenge above the crossbar.

But it was Roma’s first effort to have a much better outcome as the Giallorossi drew first blood on 16 minutes with a brilliant team effort finalized by Lorenzo Pellegrini. Jordan Veretout snatched the ball out of Nicolò Barella’s feet and prompted a counterattack where Dzeko and Mkhitaryan turned providers for the home-grown talent, whose clinical right-foot shot had no answer from Samir Handanovic.

The sudden goal left Inter shell-shock and Conte’s band risked conceding the second just a few minutes later if not for Handanovic parrying back Veretout’s rocket from outside of the box. Thirty-two minutes into the game, there more woes for Conte as Darmian had to abandon the clash due to a hip injury, prompting his natural substitute Young to set foot on the pitch earlier than expected.

Roma did a good job in controlling the Nerazzurri‘s attempts to re-balance the game and Pau Lopez had no major causes for concern, except for a winning link-up play between Lukaku and Lautaro that was rightly ruled out on grounds of offside. Arturo Vidal also had his chance to make it to the scoresheet but his curling effort from an Achraf Hakimi service went way off target.

Antonio Conte must have made himself heard in the locker room as Inter’s attitude completely changed after the restart and soon bore fruit.

First, Lukaku linked up again with Lautaro Martinez but the Argentine’s conversion from point-blank range drew a miraculous save on the part of Pau Lopez. Then, the Spanish shot-stopper couldn’t do anything on 56 minutes as Milan Skriniar served the specialty of the house – a powerful header from a Marcelo Brozovic corner to put the ball out into the top left corner of the goal and far from Lopez’s reach.

With Inter now in control, Pau Lopez saved again from an Hakimi shot – but had no answer when a few minutes later the Moroccan wing-back fired a jaw-dropping left-foot stunner from the edge of the box that hit the crossbar and bounced past the goal line. It was minute 63 and Inter had completed their comeback.

Arturo Vidal wasted a glorious chance to make it three as he failed to connect properly with a fine Hakimi cross. On the other side of the pitch, it was Mkhitaryan who should have done better from a Lorenzo Pellegrini service.

Roma had their equalizer on 85 minutes, courtesy of a wonderful header conversion from Gianluca Mancini – on which Skriniar should have thought more about marking the former Atalanta man properly and less about pretending he received a blow from Mancini that was nowhere to be seen.

There were no more chances and the match at the Stadio Olimpico ended 2-2 for the third season in a row – likely a disappointing outcome for both coaches who were hoping to turn Sunday afternoon’s battle into a potential turning point in their Serie A campaigns.

 

MATCH REPORT

January 10, 2021 – Serie A 2020-21 Round 17
ROMA-INTER 2-2

SCORERS: 17′ Pellegrini (R), 56′ Skriniar (I), 63′ Hakimi (I), 86′ Mancini (R)

ROMA (3-4-2-1): Pau Lopez; Mancini, Smalling, Ibanez; Karsdorp, Villar, Veretout (78′ Cristante), Spinazzola (73′ Bruno Peres); Pellegrini, Mkhitaryan; Dzeko (88′ Borja Mayoral) (Farelli, Fuzato, Jesus, Kumbulla, Perez, Diawara, Ruben, Podgoreanu) Coach: Fonseca
INTER (3-5-2): Handanovic; Skriniar, De Vrij, Bastoni; Hakimi (81′ Kolarov), Barella, Brozovic, Vidal (81′ Gagliardini), Darmian (33′ Young); Lukaku, Lautaro Martinez (73′ Perisic) (Padelli, Radu, Sanchez, Sensi, Ranocchia, Eriksen) Coach: Conte

REFEREE: Mr. Di Bello from Brindisi
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Smalling, Mancini, Villar (R), Lukaku, Bastoni, Perisic (I); Extra Time: 1st Half 3′, 2nd Half 5′

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