While Daniele De Rossi emphasized the point that this fixture is not over yet and that Roma can’t focus on just not conceding but also trying to score another goal, the 4-0 lead does allow for more roster flexibility than previously expected. And with that, some of Roma’s most important players likely won’t feature in the starting lineup after logging heavy minutes lately. One of those players, Romelu Lukaku, will be out injured, while Paulo Dybala could also be rested. De Rossi updated the status of those two in his presser.
“That would be the wrong message. The job isn’t almost done, we’re only halfway through. Paulo is fine. He’s training with the other players. Lukaku has a hip problem that’s been bothering him for a while, maybe even months or years. Every now and then, it flares up again and when it does, the way to manage it is through rest.
“Don’t ask me how much rest. I don’t know, but enough that he couldn’t be here. Over the past few days, he’s been telling me he wouldn’t make it.
“Whichever line-up we choose, our job and the love and pride we have for this profession force us to go and play a good match, more so when we’re missing two of our most-used players.
“I want to show that whether they’re there or not, it doesn’t make a difference for us. I’d love to start to change this idea that we can’t play football without Dybala and Lukaku.
“I think we’ve got some great players in this team, and we can play without them too. I’m still to decide whether Paulo will play tomorrow or not. I’m happy with the players I’ve got available today.”
We’re expecting Dybala to start the match on the bench and serve as the “break glass in case of emergency option” if Brighton gets back into the tie with some early goals. In his place, we’ll likely see Tommaso Baldanzi, with Sardar Azmoun starting as striker in Lukaku’s place. Stephan El Shaarawy will be the third member of the attacking trident.
We will also see one change in the midfield. It’s anticipated that Edoardo Bove will start after he participated in Wednesday’s press conference. He’ll replace either Bryan Cristante or Leandro Paredes. We’ll lean toward the Paredes start, along with Bove and Roma’s captain, Lorenzo Pellegrini, who played limited minutes on the weekend.
Where we won’t see many changes is along the backline. In fact, we’re anticipating that the same defense will try to keep the Seagulls at bay in front of Mile Svilar. That would mean Gianluca Mancini and Evan Ndicka flanked by Zeki Çelik and Leonardo Spinazzola.
ROMA (4-3-3): Svilar; Çelik, Mancini, Ndicka, Spinazzola; Bove, Paredes, Pellegrini; Baldanzi, Azmoun, El Shaarawy.
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