If the ball had fallen on Kevin Strootman’s left foot rather than his right and not bounced too high, maybe he would have scored instead of hitting the post at the Renato Dall’Ara. It was the 15th time this season Roma have struck the woodwork. Gregoire Defrel’s miss at the end only deepened the feeling that it just wasn’t the Giallorossi’s day after a promising start in the Saturday lunchtime kick-off in Serie A.
Eusebio Di Francesco claims his assessment of Roma’s performance wouldn’t have changed had his players taken those chances. What would have been different, he argued, was the analysis in the media. Bringing on Defrel, for example, would have been hailed as a masterstroke had he buried that chance.
Drawing 1-1 with Bologna was obviously disappointing. Particularly as it allowed Inter and Lazio to gain ground on Roma later that afternoon.
During the warm-up at the Camp Nou on Wednesday night, news will likely filter through of the results in Serie A. What remains of the round postponed in the tragic circumstances of Davide Astori last month is due to be played this midweek with the standout fixture being the Derby della Madonnina. Prevail at San Siro and Inter will not only enjoy the satisfaction of doing the double over their cugini in the league. They will put a silver bullet in Milan’s Champions League hopes, leapfrog Roma into third and pull further away from Lazio. The momentum in the race for the final two places in the top four would shift significantly. Inter’s six-year wait for Champions League football would feel close to its end.
How Roma handle this pressure remains to be seen. The next fortnight promises to be pivotal. Either side of the Barcelona games, the Lupi play an in-form Fiorentina and then the derby; a bona fide Champions League play-off. Standing Roma in good stead is the experience of this group of players. They have been there and done it before. You can’t say that about Inter. In Lazio’s case, the Thursday/Sunday grind continues to sap energy.
More generally speaking, there wasn’t a side that didn’t look tired at the weekend. Perhaps that’s a consequence of there being everything to play for in Serie A. Nobody can afford a take a breather. The pedal is to the metal and there is no easing up.
Rather than alleviate the strain, a fortnight of international football served as ulterior aggravation. From Roma's perspective, Di Francesco lost Lorenzo Pellegrini and Cengiz Ünder to injury. The Turkey international has been Roma’s X Factor this spring, rendering the side more unpredictable. Radja Nainggolan returned banged up from international duty and couldn’t train. He pulled up early on in Bologna and is a doubt for the first leg against Barcelona.
Roma’s intensity dipped during his attempts to play through the discomfort. The mechanisms of a well-oiled machine spluttered and in the period of adjustment between the Belgian’s removal and Gerson’s introduction Bologna scored with their one and only shot on target. “I don’t remember Alisson having any saves to make,” Di Francesco observed. That’s football. Erick Pulgar’s goal is the sort of turn of events that can throw a team and Roma did not hit the heights of the first 15 minutes for the rest of the game.
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They still rescued a point - a reminder of the fact they have lost only once on the road this season. Di Francesco did well to change the game from the bench, switching system, adding width and going with two up top. But for all Roma dominated the ball and spent the final half hour camped in the final third, they didn’t use it well enough. That the full-backs rarely if ever got to the byline did not go unnoticed.
Should it come as a surprise in Aleksandar Kolarov’s case, though? He played 168 of 180 minutes for Serbia against Nigeria and Morocco. Di Francesco would have liked to give the veteran a rest but didn’t have the option.
Up front it was a similar story. Edin Dzeko clocked up similar mileage with Bosnia even though they are not going to the World Cup. Patrik Schick was only marginally fresher after spending 10 days in China with the Czech Republic for the China Cup. Given how much of pre-season he missed and the injuries that have blighted his first season in the capital, Di Francesco thought it would have been a better idea for Roma’s big summer signing to stay at home and train under his supervision.
Schick is still yet to score in the league for Roma and was the focus of the post-match discussion on Saturday. Dzeko coming on to save the day with an equalising header only amplified it, much to Di Francesco’s frustration. “Today all we talk about is Schick,” he said, “not Roma. It’s the team that could have done better.”
Sympathy for the Czech is not in short supply. Juventus had him in for a medical and then pulled out of signing him. The €25m buy-out clause expired in the meantime which sparked an auction between Roma and Inter, hiking the price up to a potential €42m. Great expectations became ever greater around a kid who, it shouldn’t be forgotten, started 14 league games for Samp last year. Fourteen.
Backing up what he achieved was one thing. Doing it at a bigger club under greater scrutiny in a different system after a health scare that limited your ability to train and integrate was quite another. “Schick needs protecting,” Di Francesco insisted. The 22-year-old has cost Roma just €5m up until now, however, any attempts to reframe the debate in that sense is futile. It falls on deaf ears.
Attention turns to Wednesday in Catalunya. The local press welcomed the draw as a bombón for Barcelona - a sweetie to enjoy. Roma have to think of themselves as a revel or one of those jelly beans that look like a treat but instead play a trick on whoever bites into them. An unpleasant surprise.
As Di Francesco explained on Saturday, the dynamic of this game will be completely different from Bologna. Barcelona will not set out to defend deep and play in the 20-25 metres from their own goal. The Catalans will almost certainly come onto Roma and when teams do that it suits this group of players. Look at the Napoli game at the San Paolo a month ago. Roma were perfect that night from back to front. Repeat that at the Camp Nou and they have a chance of making this tie very interesting.
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