Roma’s renaissance under Daniele De Rossi reached new heights on Saturday as they thumped Serie A mid-table strugglers Monza 4-1. As far as other venues were concerned, Salernitana’s wait for their first league win in 2024 continues, while Torino and Fiorentina produced an intense, albeit goalless fixture.
Not long ago, Roma seemed destined to miss out on a top-four Serie A finish for a sixth season on the trot. However, the club’s decision to replace the sacked Jose Mourinho with Rome icon De Rossi has proved a massive hit.
Virtually unplayable under their former captain, Roma delivered another scintillating performance at the U-Power Stadium. De Rossi’s talisman Paulo Dybala ran the show in Lombardy as the Giallorossi temporarily reduced the gap on fourth-placed Bologna to a single point.
While Roma’s pursuit of Champions League football is firmly back on track, Salernitana’s hopes of securing a fourth successive season in Serie A took another hit. Fabio Liverani’s side squandered an early lead in a 1-1 draw at the Bluenergy Stadium and will finish this round six points adrift of safety at best.
Finally, Torino and Fiorentina shared the spoils in a feisty affair. However, the visitors would probably return home with regrets after failing to capitalize on numerical advantage at the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino.
Let’s look at Saturday’s highlight moments in Serie A.
Serie A Welcomes Back Pellegrini
With Dybala hitting his stride and Romelu Lukaku returning to the scoresheet for the first time under De Rossi, this Roma side looks unstoppable. It’s no small feat to score four goals against Raffaele Palladino’s stubborn defensive set-up. Yet, the Giallorossi made it look easy.
But of all De Rossi’s accomplishments during his early tenure, Lorenzo Pellegrini’s resurgence could be his most eye-catching achievement. The Roma captain seemed close to leaving the Stadio Olimpico down the final stretch of Mourinho’s regime.
He was well out of form and even dropped out of the starting XI. Everything has changed under De Rossi, and Pellegrini looks like his former self under the ex-midfielder’s tutelage. The 27-year-old opened the scoring with a delightful left-footed effort, adding to his tally in the post-Mourinho era.
It took Pellegrini only seven Serie A games under De Rossi’s tutelage to rack up four goals and three assists against just three goal contributions in his first 12 league appearances this season. From Roma fans’ perspective, this must feel like a brand-new signing.
Stalemate Specialists Do It Again
When Loum Tchaouna opened the scoring in Udine only ten minutes into the game, Salernitana must have thought they could return to the win column for the first time since December. It would’ve also been their first Serie A triumph under Liverani, who replaced Filippo Inzaghi in the dugout last month.
However, it was never meant to be as Udinese fought back on the stroke of halftime through Hassane Kamara to post a record-extending 15th Serie A draw this season. Terminally unable to turn draws into victories, Gabriele Cioffi’s side had to settle for another gut-wrenching point.
To better understand Udinese’s inability to win matches – only Salernitana’s tally of two Serie A victories is worse to the Friulians’ three. With that in mind, it’s not surprising they’re only four points clear of the bottom three. That’s not to mention the risk of seeing that lead melt by the end of this round if results elsewhere don’t go their way.
Point That Counts for Nothing
Despite extending their unbeaten league run to three matches, Fiorentina left Turin on the brink of desperation after being held goalless by a 10-man Torino. Vincenzo Italiano’s charges were a man up for the entire second half but failed to do anything to make it count.
Torino lost Samuele Ricci to a second yellow card in the final moments of the first half. Yet Ivan Juric’s side defended stoically after the break, fending off everything Fiorentina threw at them to stretch their unbeaten Serie A streak against La Viola to six games.
A point, as valuable as it looks from Torino’s perspective given the circumstances, landed a potentially hammer blow on their faltering pursuit of a European finish. But from Fiorentina’s point of view, the draw seems even worse, denying them an opportunity to whittle down a six-point deficit on Bologna.
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