Francesco Totti - Il Gladiatore di Roma

Daniele De Rossi, wearing the captain's armband in Francesco Totti's stead, scored AS Roma's first goal of the new Serie A season with a bullet header against Sassuolo.

---

AS ROMA 2-0 SASSUOLO (SERIE A)
DE ROSSI, LJAJIC
SAHIN

HELLAS VERONA 0-1 AS ROMA (SERIE A)
MORATA
CORCHIA

---

It was a very strong start to the Serie A season for the two-time defending Scudetto champions AS Roma as the capital city side stormed their way to two straight victories. Despite relatively unconvincing scorelines against weaker opposition, the performances were there and Francesco Totti's men have certainly begun to show their ambitions of a three-peat.

The first league games of the season for the Giallorossi was at home in the Stadio Olimpico against Sassuolo. The Neroverdi lined up in a very defensively solid 4-5-1 that kept Roma at bay for the entirety of the first half. In the second period, however, Nuri Sahin stamped his authority on the game.

The Turkish midfielder's cross assisted Daniele De Rossi's headed goal in the 61st minute to give the home side a 1-0 advantage. Sahin was spraying balls all over the park and dictating the tempo from deep, and fifteen minutes later, his through pass put substitute Sebastian Giovinco in the clear to cut back to Adem Ljajic to slot home.

The second match was played out in a very similar fashion. On the road against Hellas Verona, the Romans were always expected to come away with a dominant win. The packed Mercantonio Bentegodi was right behind their side, however, whose defense held strong for nearly the entire match.

Miralem Pjanic, last season's Serie A Player of the Year with 13 goals and 20 assists, had looked surprisingly quiet in the first game against Sassuolo and again in the second against Verona. However, his involvement was unnecessary as substitute Alvaro Morata scored a beautiful individual effort in second half stoppage time to break Mastini hearts and ensure that AS Roma started the season with 6 points.

It wasn't all positive news for Roma faithful, however; two key defenders went down with very serious injuries. Brazilian left back Dodo was ruled out for 3 weeks with a chest strain, while talisman center back Mehdi Benatia will be out for no less than 2 months with knee ligament damage. New signing Ricardo Rodriguez will now likely start at left back while youngsters Tin Jedvaj and Samuel Umtiti will likely be the preferred center back pairing.

Next month, a few tougher fixtures loom, starting with hosting a resurgent Inter Milan side before flying out to Spain to play Valencia CF in the UEFA Champions League group stage. As the season is only two games in, we have no league table for you, but rest assured that AS Roma sits safely at the top, level on points.

Quick Links
Last Update
Next Update

Good detail and two very good results! Well done!

Two good results, the injuries would be annoying, but you have so much talent in your squad, I don't think finding good replacements would be too hard

tallery1164: Thanks bud, a great start indeed

TVDLC123: Yes, Ricardo Rodriguez and Samuel Umtiti are my replacements

All Schalke have is Boateng, Howedes, Draxler and Maximillian, the rest, especially Fuchs and Utipia (or whatever) are just a load of bollocks.

Sure after one season playing them you can fill in the weak positions (STR, RB, LB, DCL, GK) but to start with there crap

Some great results there! Maybe another league win, and possibly CL victory?

zJordan: Don't worry my friend, I can handle them

pokarioboy: Let's not get ahead ourselves, still a LOONG way to go until that

Miralem Pjanic was undoubtedly AS Roma's star player last season. Scoring 13 goals and assisting 20 more in the league led to the Bosnia and Herzegovina midfielder to be voted Serie A Player of the Year and attracting interest from the Barclays Premier League. With just a year left on his contract, it was heavily expected that Pjanic would move last summer.

However, Francesco Totti had other ideas. €25 million bids from both Arsenal and Manchester United were rejected despite the player indicating strong interest in joining. Thus, Pjanic refused to accept contract talks for a while, fueling rumors that he'd be leaving the Stadio Olimpico after this season on a free transfer.

Desperate not to see their hero go, the Giallorossi faithful urged Totti and the board to convince Pjanic to renew his contract and continue to ply his trade for the Italian champions. It seems as though that has been achieved as just one month into the season, Miralem has taken a massive u-turn on his previous stance of staying with the club.

Over the last few days, it is reported that the attacking midfielder met with Totti and owner James Pallotta to speak about the future of the club. Now, just earlier today, it was confirmed that Pjanic signed a new five year deal with the club, worth €120 thousand per week and expiring in 2020. He is now the third highest paid player at the club behind Daniele De Rossi and Nuri Sahin.

"It feels good to sign on with the club after all of the talk and rumors," said Pjanic during the press conference. "I have grown very close to AS Roma and I love the fans here, and I feel very much at home. Thankfully we managed to figure everything out, and hopefully I will be at the Olimpico for many years to come."

This news comes at a perfect time to lift Roma's spirits ahead of their big weekend clash against title rivals Inter Milan before kicking off their Champions League campaign on the road against Spanish side Valencia.

Quick Links
Last Update
Next Update

Great player, great club, great update!

Get him tied down, what a player!

great to see him stay on

The Madridista: Great comment, too

MCox93: One of the best players I've ever had on FM

fzemdegs: Especially with a five year deal

Good start to the new season, and great to tie Pjanic down for so long, seeing as he is such a fantastic player!

pompeyblue: Thanks Josh, I'm ecstatic with both the results and the new deal

YES YES YES YES YES