A pearl of Joya, read Paulo Dybala, gives Roma the passage to the quarter-finals of the Italian Cupwhere he will find the winner of the challenge between Naples and Cremonese.
The evening at the Olimpico therefore takes place in the name of the world champion awarded before the match against Genoa by another who won the most desired Cup, Bruno Conti, and acclaimed by the 60,000 who once again filled the Olimpico . Then the Argentine took a seat on the bench, because José Mourinho did not see fit to start him preferring to let him come in at the start of the second half in place of Pellegrini who had also been one of his best up to that moment.
It took less than twenty minutes for Leo Messi’s reserve in the Albiceleste to leave his mark: his goal was truly beautiful, scored with his left foot after receiving from Mancini, controlled the ball and beat Martinez, the namesake of his national team mate, ‘chilling him ‘ from the vertex of the small area. A goal that was also a sign of how important it is to have champions in the team. But it must be said that, despite the good mood of their youngsters Bove and Zalewski, Roma didn’t play a great game again this evening.
The performance of Zaniolo continues to worry in particular, who has never surpassed the man in one-on-one situations, and as usual was too nervous. To solve the problems, therefore, a feat of his n. 21 Argentine, at the expense of a Genoa not at all submissive, even if set up for an hour too defensively, and who has shown that he deserves the avant-garde position he occupies in the Serie B standings. Credit must be given to another world champion, Alberto Gilardino, who has revitalized him since he sat on the Griffin bench.
There was also a good moment of ‘amarcord’ for the Olimpico crowd with the long round of applause for the ex Kevin Strootman, unlucky champion, when he entered the field in place of Badelj, the ‘mastermind’ of the midfield who didn’t play properly today. So this Roma with a staid pace has achieved another positive result and that’s enough if you turn on the light, read Dybala. However, he suffered too much in the final, and he has to thank the good luck that made Aramu, sent onto the field perhaps too late, miss a shot which, in practice, was a penalty in motion.
Now the league will return and for his Mourinho team there will be Fiorentina, while Genoa will return to B and will face Venice in a match between the maritime republics of football.
