Until the middle of January we saw one sad Roma, since the arrival of Daniele De Rossi to the club where he has the status of a living legend – we saw a revival! Sleeping giant suddenly arose and became a powerhouse which easily wins all the team to which he used to lose. Tonight, in the first match of the quarter-finals of the Europa League, Roma flourished at San Siro, where they couldn’t win since October 2017 – 0:1. The statistics show that Milan even shot 24 times at the rival’s goal (compared to Roma’s 10 shots), but they were mostly fruitless attempts, mostly from distance. The best chance to equalize was created by the home team in the 87th minute, when Samuel Chukwueze’s magical breakthrough was not capitalized by experienced Olivier Giroud… The ball hit the crossbar after a shot from close range.4 – AS Roma have kept four consecutive clean sheets in a single season in all competitions for the first time since October 2017 (four, under Di Francesco). Concentration.#MilanRoma #UEL pic.twitter.com/xlaeduapnt— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) April 11, 2024 But Roma’s defenders are also to ‘blame’ for Milan’s mistakes and insufficiently precise shots. Combativeness, movement, commitment, concentration and a huge desire to do something great for the Giallorossi this season. Roma is not that far away from the final game in Europa League, since next week Milan will have to endure a hellish atmosphere at the Olympico and score two goals in order to get through. Since the arrival of De Rossi at the helm, Paulo Dybala has been given Totti-like freedom in the game, and Roma have become far more dangerous from the break. The Rossoneri felt it on their own skin, the Argentine took aim from the corner, and Gianluca Mancini headed it for the fifth time this season! He previously snuck up on Ruben Loftus-Cheek. True, immediately after the goal, talk started about the unjudged offside position in which Stefan El Shaarawy found himself, before he forced Mike Magnian to kick the ball into the corner with a dangerous shot. And El El Shaarawy is one of the players who seriously gained in importance with the arrival of De Rossi, and tonight he was the biggest challenge for Milan’s defence and goal in the first half, just as Rejnders had that epithet on the other side. The Dutchman threatened Mile Svilar a total of three times, and Roma’s goalkeeper caught all the shots and saved his team’s net for the fourth consecutive game. This happened to Roma for the last time in 2017 under the baton of Eusebio di Francesco.
UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE – QUARTER-FINALSFirst legThursdayMilan – Roma 0-1 (0-1)/Mancini 17/Liverpool – Atalanta 0-3 (0-1)/Scammaca 38, 60, Pasalic 83/Leverkusen – West Ham 2-0 (0-0)/Hofmann 83, Boniface 90+1/Benfica – Olympique Marseille 2-1 (1-0)/Silva 16, Di Maria 52 – Aubameyang 67/