Roma keeps rolling with a 4-1 win over Monza

As is often the case this time of year, Roma’s attention is diverted between the opponent on the pitch and those on the table. Fortunately, most of the Giallorossi’s table-watching will occur tomorrow when Bologna and Atalanta square off at high noon Eastern time in a fixture that has enormous implications for Roma’s Champions League pursuit. But if the cards fall right, Roma can leapfrog Atalanta into fifth place.

Meanwhile, AC Milan did Roma a huge favor by dispatching an eight-man Lazio side yesterday, so the early portends were kind to Daniele De Rossi’s side. However, before he could fret about Sunday’s results, DDR had to get through today’s fixture, an away tilt against a surprisingly plucky Monza side, who, thanks to back-to-back wins, has climbed into 11th place after 26 rounds of play.

To combat their upstart hosts, De Rossi left nothing to chance, rolling out his heavy hitters for today’s critical match, starting Paulo Dybala, Romelu Lukaku, and Stephan El Shaarawy at the tip of a 4-3-3, with Leandro Paredes, Lorenzo Pellegrini and Bryan Cristante in midfield, and Angeliño, Rasmus Kristensen, Gianluca Mancini and Evan Ndicka in defense.

Despite the good tidings, the match got off to an inauspicious start for Roma, as Ndicka took a boot to the face in the 1st minute from Ivan Djuric. After shoving a wad of gauze up his nose, the newly crowned AFCON champion was good to go.

Roma’s first look at goal saw Bryan Cristante fire a glancing header toward the far right post, narrowly missing an early goal but nevertheless putting Monza keeper Michele DiGregorio under early pressure. The Giallorossi’s second attempt saw Lukaku and Pellegrini work a give-and-go at the edge of the box, with Pellegrini lashing onto Lukaku’s return pass, but DiGregorio read it well, making a stretched save.

The first lucky break of the evening fell in Roma’s favor in the 16th minute when Juric’s snapped shot in the area struck the right upright, sparing the capital club an early setback. With the pitch quickly tilted in the other direction, Roma appeared to seize the lead when Cristante tapped home a square ball from Dybala, only to see his goal disallowed by VAR for an offside call. Dybala was a hair’s breadth past the last defender when Angeliño played the initial ball in a three-touch sequence that led to Cristante’s would-be goal.

After struggling to break through the Monza backline for the ensuing 10 minutes, Pellegrini continued his impressive form under De Rossi when he scored a lovely left-footed goal shortly before halftime.

Lorenzo Pellegrini: 38th Minute (Monza 0, Roma 1)

First, top marks to Lukaku for somehow getting a leg to the initial entry pass and keeping it alive for Pellegrini, but after that, this was all capitano. After displaying some impressive close control amongst a thicket of players, Pellegrini did well to evade the first defender before dropping a lovely left-footer in the far post to put the Giallorossi up.

But they weren’t done yet…

VAR may have thwarted Dybala’s initial assist, but the replay gods had no say here, as La Joya played a simple square ball into the box for Lukaku, who converted with ease, notching his 10th league goal of the season. Excellent job by Dybala to carve out space here, but the real genius was the pass, which caught Lukaku perfectly in stride for a gimme goal.

Thanks to a spate of early injuries, the first half wrapped up with six added minutes, and while Roma came close to stealing a third goal, De Rossi’s men entered the dressing room with a well-earned two-goal lead.

Second Half
In a perfect world, Roma would have begun the second half baying at the moon while they sought a third goal, but Monza took the early initiative, pulling Mile Svilar off his line multiple times in the first five minutes. While they didn’t come close to scoring, it was enough to remind Roma that this match was far from over.

With the clock just shy of the hour mark, De Rossi made a pair of changes, bringing Edoardo Bove and Chris Smalling into the mix in favor of Pellegrini and Angeliño, respectively, giving Roma an ultra-defensive look for the final 30 minutes. While it wasn’t the most exciting turn of events, given how much sharper Monza looked at the outset of the second half, it was the right call by De Rossi.

However, as he’s often done the past two seasons, Dybala put Roma over the top, arching another beautiful free-kick into the back of the net.

Leandro Paredes offered a nice bluff while Monza was arranging their wall, but there was never any doubt that this was Dybala’s attempt. And with a simple swing of his left leg, Dybala put this match to bed, scoring his fourth goal this week and seventh in his last five league matches.

Despite being down three goals, Monza continued to come at the Giallorossi, peppering the Roma backline with six shots in the first 25 minutes of the half, stretching the backline at the edges and nearly catching Svilar out of position a few times.