To start the year, Roma, coached by José Mourinho, had a major hurdle to overcome. However, the Giallorossi joined forces to beat second-division side Cremonese in the cup
In the last Serie A season in 2022/23, AS Roma and US Cremonese had met twice in regulation – after a 0:1 draw, the underdogs even won 2:1 in the second half of the season, only to be relegated in the end.
The two clubs met again in the round of 16 of the Coppa Italia – and the underdogs, who are currently back in the promotion race in Serie B, showed themselves to be stable, with unsurprisingly few attempts at counter-attacking and generally without fear at their Roman hosts in the raucous Stadio Olimpico.
The truth was, however, that the capital team, whose personnel had changed since the recent 1-0 defeat at record champions Juventus (Mancini and Dybala were rested, among others), set the tone, had plenty of possession and exerted pressure. However, captain Pellegrini, driving forward El Shaarawy and striker Lukaku often lacked the final pass or the final consistency. There was also bad luck: Belotti narrowly missed (5th minute), before Pellegrini’s direct free-kick attempt was thwarted by a strong tackle from keeper Jungdal (17th), Belotti failed to get his header into the net from close range and Pellegrini fired against the crossbar immediately afterwards (27th).
Yikes! Rome are caught by surprise
The home side were then hit on the back foot and had to live with a few whistles from the stands. The Grigiorossi scored with their first real chance. After a long drive and inconsistent defensive work by the Romans, attacker Tsadjout got to the ball on the half-right of the penalty area and skilfully slotted it from a slightly acute angle past keeper Svilar, who was replacing the rested regular Rui Patricio in the AS box that evening (37′).
A show of strength was therefore needed against the visitors from Cremona, who were deep from then on and also helped themselves out with some excessive tackling. And for a long time it looked as if Mourinho’s charges would not be able to cope. Lukaku, among others, was unable to get the ball past goalkeeper Jungdal after a fine pass from Dybala (47′).
Lukaku and Dybala score the decisive goals
However, the Roman side, who had been rotated with fresh personnel – including the initially rested regular Dybala, ex-Leverkusen player Azmoun and winger Spinazzola – were still to have their (late) moments. One of them came in the 77th minute: the ball-carrying Dybala set up Azmoun, who in turn passed perfectly for Lukaku. This time, “Big Rom” remained ice-cold and converted into the bottom left corner for a celebrated 1:1.
A short time later, Spinazzola, who was too quick for opponent Sernicola, was immediately awarded a penalty after clear contact, which Dybala converted with an unstoppable finish into the bottom right corner (85′). In the end, Roma managed to hold on to the narrow 2:1 lead, didn’t let anything get in the way defensively – and even missed the 3:1 when El Shaarawy failed to hit the empty net from long range because US goalkeeper Jungdal had gone forward (90.+5).
Why the Romans even had a home game in this Coppa Italia round of 16 is down to the format. Since the 2007/08 season and a significant change, only first and second division teams have actually taken part in the cup year after year. To top it all off, the top eight Serie A clubs from the previous season only ever make it to the round of 16 – with home games in each case.
