The football buzz has hit Roma fans earlier than other Italians. From the moment the club announced that Jose Mourinho has accepted the role of manager in May, the Giallorossi faithful can’t wait for the start of the season. The expectations are high, mainly due to Mourinho’s arrival, as the fans believe that they can go into the top 4 and the Champions League football. So far, they have to be happy with the Conference League, where they won against Trabzonspor on Thursday, but the ‘real deal’ starts today with a game against Fiorentina.The last time Fiorentina were the visitors on the opening day of the season… #ASRoma #RomaFiorentina pic.twitter.com/pV2m2gEV7X— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) August 21, 2021 And according to Jose Mourinho, everybody are prepared and everything is set up as he pleases for the arrival of Viola. “We are ready, even if we only played 48 hours ago. But the sport today is like that. Having squad depth can help us in tougher moments. Against Trabzonspor we saw what a difference it makes to the intensity when you have played a few more competitive games. The only thing I’m missing right now is the three points. Three points that are available to us and to Fiorentina. We want those points, our players want them. We want to win, that’s what I’m thinking about” said Mourinho ahead of Fiorentina game.Serie A is back: Juve are the favourites, will the Mourinho factor be enough for Roma and what about Atalanta for Scudetto?As for fans expectations, the experienced Portuguese was quick to downplay the hype, stating (in a polite manner) that the transfer window was not as good as he planned, and that fans shouldn’t expect something quickly. “Time is a word that brought me here to Roma. It will be difficult to make a big leap. The club has not won for a while, and last season it finished a long way from the top, or from fourth spot either. So clearly changing that will take time. Numbers tell the story, and the numbers say that we haven’t won for a number of years and we need to make up a lot of points on our rivals. So I will say it again: time. And then to be given the time to build on that. I said that our transfer activity has been reactive, based on emerging needs. Because of that we haven’t signed a few players that were part of my initial vision, my analysis for what could be important to balance out the squad. However, to repeat, I am extremely pleased with the efforts the club have made in the market and the way they have been with me and with this project” said Mourinho.Inter kickstart their title defending campaign with a furious 4-0 victoryFiorentina also has a new coach, Vincenco Italiano. In this crazy summer for managers, 8 out of first 10 clubs in Serie A changed their coaches (like Roma), but other clubs, near the bottom of the table did the same (like Fiorentina). Italiano wants to install a very aggressive style of football, one heavily dependent on physical fitness with lots of pressing and box-to-box running from the midfielders. But the wide players are also key to his play, both defensively and offensively. The team will (again) lean heavily on Serbian striker Dušan Vlahović, who scored 21 goals last season, keeping Fiorentina out of the relegation battle, which is club’s goal for this season as well. The Giallorossi are expected to give Rui Patricio, Matias Vina and Eldor Shomurodov their League debuts today, with Tammy Abraham expected to enter off the bench against the Viola, since he hasn’t been training regularly at Chelsea. On the other hand, Fiorentina’s biggest acquisition, Nicolas Gonzalez, will start in midfield, while Marko Nastastić just came back from Schalke and might miss this match. SERIE A – ROUND 1SaturdayInter – Genoa 4-0 (2-0)/Skriniar 6, Calhanoglu 14, Vidal 74, Dzeko 87/Verona – Sassuolo 2-3 (0-1)/Zaccagni 71, 90 – Raspadori 32, Djuricic 51, Traore 77/Sunday19:30 (1.70) Bologna (3.70) Salernitana (5.20)19:30 (6.25) Udinese (4.00) Juventus (1.55)21:45 (1.30) Napoli (5.70) Venezia (9.00)21:45 (1.85) Roma (3.60) Fiorentina (4.30)Monday19:30 (2.05) Cagliari (3.45) Spezia (3.60)21:45 (3.80) Sampdoria (3.45) Milan (2.00)
