It is always a big game when AS Roma and Inter Milan square off, but with Inter looking to further strengthen their position at the top of the table, and Roma looking to strengthen their position in the race for fourth place there was an extra feeling of urgency in the air at the Stadio Olimpico. Roma kept the same starting XI that defeated Cagliari with the exception of 18-year-old Dean Huijsen starting in the place of Diego Llorente, hoping to carry over their momentum from the last three wins and get a fourth straight league victory for the first time since 2020 under Paulo Fonseca.
Right from the start the rain provided a perfect atmosphere for this battle between two of the biggest clubs in Italy and for the first few minutes Roma’s energy seemingly took Inter off guard as the Giallorossi had multiple good chances and a corner kick within the first 120 seconds of the match, with the first shot from Stephan El-Shaaraway being saved by Yann Sommer, and a Pellegrini shot from outside the box going over the crossbar. After this initial burst of energy Inter settled into the game and held on to possession for stretches of time, and while no major chances come from this at first, Roma were unable to hold onto possession after winning the ball back and were repeatedly forced to just clear it and continue defending. And in the 17th minute the Roma defense continued to bend until it broke. After conceding a corner kick Federico Dimarco delivered a cross that was initially flicked onward / away from Lukaku, however it went straight towards Francesco Acerbi who instinctively got a head to it, and whether intentional or not it lofted perfectly over Rui Patricio and into the top far corner of the net to give the league leaders an early 1-0 advantage.
Roma responded with another burst of energy, but once again Inter weathered the storm and regained control of the flow of the match and continued to give Roma trouble with their press. However, on one of Roma’s attempted counters they won a free kick near the halfway line, and Lorenzo Pellegrini delivered a beautiful cross that was met by Gianluca Mancini who gave Sommer no chance to stop it, tying the game 1-1 in the 28th minute seemingly out of nowhere, as the fans at the Olimpico burst to life in the pouring rain.
Only ten minutes later Inter nearly regained the lead courtesy of another Rui Patricio blooper. After whiffing at an attempted punch on an Inter free kick the ball fell to Lautaro Martinez who was quickly met by the Roma defense before being able to shoot, saving Roma from conceding an ugly goal to fall behind again. And as halftime approached both teams had opportunities on either end, and on a Roma counterattack in the 44th minute Lorenzo Pellegrini patiently waited for the space to open up, before feeding Stephan El-Shaaraway on his left whose shot got a piece of every part of the frame of the goal before it ended up in the back of the net to stun Sommer and Inter right before the break. Il Faraone’s shot hit the near post, then the crossbar, and finally off of the far post and whether it was how he drew it up or not it gave the Romans a stunning 2-1 lead going into halftime.
However, those dreaming of a Roma upset were quickly snapped back to reality as only three minutes into the second half saw them gave up their lead. Marcus Thuram met Matteo Darmian’s low cross and easily slotted it past Rui Patricio to set the game back to square one. And only eight minutes later Inter completely turned the tables courtesy of another great team goal that began with a giveaway from Rick Karsdorp, and after a quick string of passes that sent former Roma man Mkhitaryan out wide, another cross towards Thuram ended up with the ball in the back of the net. This time it was an own goal off of Angelino who was attempting to defend the French striker, giving Inter a 3-2 lead only ten minutes after trailing 2-1. In the 58th minute they nearly scored a third second half goal courtesy of an ambitious Nicolo Barella volley that struck the post before eventually rolling behind for a corner kick.
As time went on Inter became more content to just hold the ball and force Roma to try and get it, and when they were able to get the ball they did manage to create some chances, with the best coming in the 70th minute from another great Pellegrini pass that split the defense and set up Lukaku one on one with Yann Sommer, but the Swiss keeper was able to grab the ball as Lukaku attempted to dribble to his right around Sommer. Attacking reinforcements in the form of Tomasso Baldanzi, Nicola Zalewski, and eventually Sardar Azmoun were introduced late in the game but they weren’t able to find an equalizer, and after five minutes of added time Roma were unable to create any meaningful chances and in their effort to do so were caught out by a late Inter counter attack and Marko Arnautovic found Alessandro Bastoni all alone to score the fourth goal and put the cherry on top of a big win and their fifth straight in the new year.
It was a very spirited effort by De Rossi’s men in a well fought 4-2 loss, but in the end a slow start to the second half and a couple wasted chances by Romelu Lukaku in a chance at revenge against his former club were the difference in this one. Both Lukaku and Dybala struggled to get involved and while Roma were opportunistic in the first half, it was the opposite case in the second half and once they fell behind, it never felt too much like they would climb back. It was an expected loss, but still hurts after leading at halftime as now Roma are likely to slip from their position in fifth place as the rest of the pack have played one or two less games than the Giallorossi. They now look forward to the first leg of the Europa League Playoff round against new rivals Feyenoord in Rotterdam on Thursday, before having to immediately turn around and get ready for a road league match against Frosinone. There is not much room for error for Roma, and it’s going to be worth keeping an eye on how De Rossi attempts to construct the starting elevens with such little time between matches. But don’t forget to check back in on Thursday for the postmatch analysis on Roma’s first game against Feyenoord.
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