Daniele De Rossi – Roma v Bologna_FC Serie
Serie A champions Juventus are on a good run of form that has taken them five points clear at the top of the table. They face a potential banana skin this weekend as they travel to Roma who sacked their coach two weeks back and are looking to get back on track for a Champions League spot.
New Roma coach Aurelio Andreazzoli began the post Zdenek Zeman era by returning midfield maestro Daniele De Rossi and Dutch goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg to the Roma starting XI against Sampdoria, but unfortunately couldn’t change Roma’s recent run of results which has seen them go winless this year. Despite starting well and dominating the first half, they went down 3-1 to Sampdoria. Andreazzoli arrived as Luciano Spalletti’s assistant manager in 2005 and remained working as part of the staff with every Coach since then. “I worked as a head coach for 20 years, then was an assistant manager for 10. I’d love to be the Roma coach for three years and win the Scudetto, but I am a club man and if I’m asked to step aside, I will do so. In these eight years I saw Roma soar and plummet. Seeing as I know the reasons we fell, I aim to work on those”, he said. Well his era has begun on a bad foot. Ironically, despite the different formation (3-5-2) and line-up, the results were down-right Zeman-esque, with a flurry of early chances either being squandered or parried away. Their last two home matches have seen them lose 4-2 to Cagliari in the league and 2-1 to Inter in the cup.
Juventus continued their march towards a second successive Serie A title with a convincing 2-0 victory over fierce rivals Fiorentina last weekend. A vicious strike from Mirko Vucinic in the opening 20 minutes put the Bianconeri ahead before Alessandro Matri doubled their lead shortly before half-time. The Turin giants threatened to pile more misery onto Vincenzo Montella’s side, who the coach admitted were beaten by a ‘superior’ team, but had to settle for the two-goal win and moved five points clear at the top of the table ahead of Napoli, who drew at Lazio. Juventus have had a few hiccups in their season so far but the Bianconeri have continued to dominate in the league. Their powerful midfield and solid defence have contributed to this dominance. The central midfield three of Claudio Marchisio, Arturo Vidal and Andrea Pirlo is one of the best in the world behind Barcelona. Pirlo is a veteran to the game but is still the heartbeat to any midfield and Juventus is no exception. His technique and vision are absolutely impeccable and can change a game with just one pass. While much of the praise often goes to Pirlo, Vidal has become one of Juventus’ most consistent performers and further reinforced this with another top display against Fiorentina. The Chilean does not only create chances, he takes them too, as he is the club’s joint-top goalscorer with 10 goals. Their assets in the team are ready to mix it with the big boys on the continental stage as they look to get past their last 16 Champions League opponents Celtic on Tuesday before this clash.
Juve banged Roma 4-1 in the first round. However, they drew 1-1 here last season and a motivated Roma side are tipped to get a draw.
