With Roma in the midst of its most important stretch of the season, Daniele De Rossi will have to find the perfect balance of fielding a strong XI and not overworking his key men. That balancing act becomes just a bit trickier when European knockout round matches are sandwiched between three domestic fixtures against clubs around Roma in the table that are also looking to secure Champions League football at the expense of the Giallorossi.
Two players who we know won’t feature in this one are Romelu Lukaku and Chris Smalling who have been ruled out through injury. The hope is that Big Rom will be available for Thursday’s Europa League semifinal against Leverkusen. Meanwhile, Smalling has a right adductor injury and his timeframe for a return is unknown.
Lukaku’s absence will mean an opportunity for Sadar Azmoun to start up top after coming off the bench and scoring against Bologna on Monday. He’s expected to be joined by both Paulo Dybala and Stephan El Shaarawy, as De Rossi won’t want to sacrifice too much of his attacking prowess.
We will see a change in the midfield. Edoardo Bove is expected to start in place of the suspended Leandro Paredes. Bove will form an all-Italian midfield trio with Lorenzo Pellegrini and Bryan Cristante.
Diego Llorente is also suspended in defense. However, De Rossi revealed his starting center-back duo during his pre-match press comments.
“Evan is fine, he trained and made it clear above all with his words that he felt great, he’s not afraid of tackles, of clashes, he’s back at 100%.”
“He will start together with Mancini and both will have a challenging duel ahead because Osimhen is one of the strongest center forwards in the world.”
Ndicka’s return is great news after the Ivorian went down just two weeks ago in Udine—prompting the match to be suspended. Most publications have Angeliño slated to start at left-back. Conversely, there’s some disagreement between Rick Karsdorp and Zeki Çelik. We’ll tip Karsdorp.
ROMA (4-3-3): Svilar; Karsdorp, Mancini, Ndicka, Angeliño; Bove, Cristante, Pellegrini; Dybala, Azmoun, El Shaarawy.