Rome-Lecce 2-1: Smalling, Strefezza and Dybala

It took a penalty than the usual Dybala and a few too many thrills in the final, but in the end a heavy victory arrives for Roma, which allows them to stay in the wake of the Champions zone. Too bad for Dybala’s muscle injury, who got hurt just shooting the decisive penalty. The Giallorossi on balance deserved the victory (20-6 the total number of shots in favor of Mou), but Lecce held the field well, also in consideration of the fact that for over 70 minutes they played with one less man ( red in Hjulmand). So good for Rome, a little bitter taste in the mouth for the Apulians.

BUCK AND ANSWER

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Mourinho recovers Pellegrini and launches for the first time in the league from via Vina and Belotti, while Baroni enjoys Umtiti’s absolute Serie A debut. The pressure from Roma, however, is immediately very strong and after just 6 ‘of play the Giallorossi are already ahead with the house specialty, the header: Pellegrini’s side cross and Smalling’s third goal of the season, the Giallorossi’s fifth out of 11 . So it all seems easy for Mourinho, also because Rome continues to siege the Lecce area: Belotti arrives late on a delicious ball from Zaniolo, Pellegrini first becomes dangerous in the race and then wastes from a good position. At 22 ‘Lecce also remains in ten for the red (with the help of the Var) of Hjulmand for a foul on Belotti in midfield (hammer foot on Gallo’s knee). In short, everything points to a game now downhill for the hosts and instead Banda begins to accelerate strongly in the wing and create confusion, with the Apulians who in the meantime have gone from 4-3-3 to 4-4-1 . And at 39 ‘comes the cold shower for Roma, with Strefezza who in a mix-up on the developments of a corner finds the right corner to the right of Rui Patricio. The Giallorossi reaction is a nice shot (saved) by Zalewski and a very occasional one for Zaniolo, who, however, dozes face to face with Falcone and allows Askildsen to recover.

PAUL DECIDES

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So the moves for Mou’s recovery are Spinazzola (for Vina) and Abraham (for Zaniolo), while Baroni sends in Blin (for Gonzalez). And everything happens immediately: Askildesn touches Abraham hard after not even a minute in the penalty area, Dybala scores the penalty but on the kick he feels his left quadriceps being pulled and is forced to raise the white flag, Matic enters, Pellegrini goes to play the trocar and Zalewski he wastes the 3-1 kicking on Falcone. On the other hand, Banda and Strefezza split between attacking outsiders and midfielders, trying to balance the two phases of the Apulians. However, when the game has to be closed, Roma cannot, also because the tiredness of the match against Betis begins to make itself felt: Belotti is dangerous with his head, Abraham misses a couple of very inviting balls and Di Francesco scares Rui Patricio. Then comes Abraham’s 3-1, but canceled due to Pellegrini’s initial offside. It ends like this, with Roma clinging to the Champions area.