Roma and Milan face off today in a match with extreme ramifications for Champions League qualification. With Sardar Azmoun, Evan Ndicka and Houssem Aouar all away on international duty, José Mourinho has his work cut out for him against a class Milan side. That’s why it’s somewhat interesting that Mourinho has decided to swap out Rui Patricio for Serbian backup Mile Svilar. It’s the first Serie A start of the season for Svilar, who has made six Europa League appearances this season and one in the Coppa Italia.
Alongside Svilar in the defense are Rasmus Kristensen, an injured Gianluca Mancini, and Diego Llorente, with Zeki Çelik and Nicola Zalewski playing on the wings. Stephan El Shaarawy fills in for the injured Paulo Dybala up front with Romelu Lukaku, while Bryan Cristante, Leandro Paredes, and Edoardo Bove are starting in the midfield. It’ll be interesting to see how Çelik and Zalewski work on controlling Milan’s classy front line – if Roma is going to win this one, it’ll start with neutralizing Rafael Leao, Christian Pulisic and Olivier Giroud.
As always, you can follow along during the match here in the comments section or on the Website Formerly Known as Twitter @ChiesaDiTotti. FORZA ROMA!