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Supercoppa Italiana: Roma vs. AC Milan
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Last season's Italian season came to a close with a dramatic Coppa Italia final between AC Milan and AS Roma. The Rossoneri scored a 119th minute equalizer against the 10 men of Roma and went on to triumph in penalties, breaking Giallorossi hearts in the final game of the season.
Francesco Totti's men went on to win Serie A, however, setting up this clash in the Supercoppa Italiana between the winners of the league and the winners of the cup. Under the management of the newly appointed Alberto Malesani, AC Milan wanted to kick off their year on the right, but AS Roma was intent on vengeance. Let's take a look at each team's starting lineup:
AS Roma Starting XI (4-1-2-1-2)
Asmir
Begovic; Sebastien
Corchia, Mehdi
Benatia (C), Tin
Jedvaj, Ricardo
Rodriguez; Maxime
Gonalons; Clement
Grenier, Nuri
Sahin; Miralem
Pjanic; Jordan
Rhodes, Adem
Ljajic
AC Milan Starting XI (4-4-2)
Marco
Amelia; Ignazio
Abate, Ivan Francisco
De Santis, Davide
Astori (C), Kevin
Constant; Riccardo
Saponara, Keisuke
Honda, Nigel
De Jong, Andre
Ayew; Alberto
Paloschi, Mario
Balotelli
Malesani chose to start teenage defender Ivan De Santis instead of Matias Silvestre, surprising some fans who didn not think De Santis was ready for this step up. Gylfi Sigurdsson also had to make do with a spot on the bench, despite being the goalscoring hero in the Coppa Italia final last year.
Francesco Totti also made a few interesting selection choices. Samuel Umtiti and Dodo both started from the bench, alongside vice-captain Daniele De Rossi, who was nursing a minor injury from training. In his stead, Maxime Gonalons started in the holding midfield role. Jordan Rhodes also got the nod up top after a scintillating goalscoring in preseason.
Halfway through the first half, it was Rhodes' striker partner Adem Ljajic making the difference, though not exactly in the way he'd wanted. AC Milan's Riccardo Saponara's corner kick from the left side had been directed toward goal by Davide Astori but was definitely heading wide. It took a heavy deflection off of Ljajic, however, and much to Roma's embarrassment it ended up in the net.
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Despite scoring 21 goals in all competitions last season, Ljajic has kicked off the new campaign by putting the ball into the net...unfortunately, the wrong net.
Just ten minutes later, however, the Giallorossi found a beautiful equalizing goal, and who else to get it but the new signing Jordan Rhodes. The Scotland international had been perfectly played in by a scything through ball from Ljajic, obviously looking to atone for his earlier error, and once he was in Rhodes was never going to miss. The ex-Scotland international buried his strike in the corner, and just like that it was all level.
The score stayed even all the way through half time. The Rossoneri were doing a better job of keeping the ball and finding feet but were struggling to penetrate Roma's defense; Paloschi and Balotelli had been utterly marked out of the game by Benatia, Jedvaj, and Gonalons. In the second half, the Giallorossi started coming out of their defensive shell a little bit more, and Miralem Pjanic started dictating play; that
always spells trouble for the opposition.
With an hour of the match gone, Pjanic did what he did so well last season; he changed the match entirely. The Bosnia and Herzegovina superstar dropped deep to get on the ball and sprayed a beautiful ball wide to Sebastien Corchia. The French fullback held up the ball before knocking it by Kevin Constant and curling a cross into the back post. In this time, Pjanic had made a lung-bursting run all the way into the box to nod home from close range and give Roma the lead.
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Miralem Pjanic was the heart of Roma's second goal, playing a give and go with Sebastien Corchia across the entirety of Milan's have before tucking away his header to score.
After this second goal, the Romans dropped a bit further back and looked to consolidate their advantage, obviously not willing to give up another heartbreaking late goal like in the Coppa Italia final. The Rossoneri threw everything forward in the last ten minutes, knowing nothing short of a goal would leave their new boss with a disastrous start to his reign.
With just five minutes remaining, it seemed as though Mario Balotelli had stunned Roma again. Riccardo Saponara's through ball had found the Italy star striker in acres of space and just the goalkeeper to beat; Balotelli easy chipped Asmir Begovic to equalize. However, the assistant referee had raised his flag for offsides, and the goal did not stand.
The score stood at 2-1, and the referee's final whistle prompted celebrations from the Roma players and fans as they started their season with a trophy. "It feels good to bring home this cup," said Totti after the match. "You always want to start the year on the right foot, and we've certainly done that today."
In a week's time, AS Roma will begin their Serie A campaign against Sassuolo, but until then they can continue to celebrate this Supercoppa Italiana victory.
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AS ROMA 5-1 FC PORTO | MORATA, PJANIC, RODRIGUEZ (x2), VERATTI
