After success in his first two-and-a-half years at AS Roma, Jose Mourinho was shown his marching orders in mid-January as the Special One made way for club legend Daniele De Rossi , who immediately made a positive impact upon taking over.
On everyone’s mind last week was the Europa League Play Off first leg clash with Dutch giants Feyenoord, and given his Roma background and journey, De Rossi clearly knew how big a moment it was for him – particularly as it was to be his European debut as a manager in his own right but I am sure he is also looking to the the 2024 UEFA Europa League predictions as Roma are well in the race.
“I’m happy to be able to make this European debut – it wasn’t something you could have predicted not so long ago,” De Rossi told reporters prior to last week’s first leg against Feyenoord.
“Today is my daughter’s birthday. Last year I spent 14 February at her party and a few hours later I was sacked. I’m sorry I can’t spend it with Olivia but my mood is quite the opposite to last year, so I should be grateful. Sometimes you have to take a minute to realise how lucky we are, not only remember when things don’t go well. I’m happy, pleased and I want to make the most of this.”
After Mourinho’s regular outbursts and the utter tendency to blame everyone else but himself (officials, lack of transfer market activity, or even the weather), De Rossi will have further ingratiated himself into the fan base with that comment. He is grounded, he is not thinking solely of himself and he is appreciative of what he will lose out on by taking up the wonderful opportunity that has now been presented to him.
Clearly it is an opportunity he is looking to seize and take full advantage of, and being no stranger to past clashes between Roma and Feyenoord, he was also expecting another passionate and quite a feisty encounter, but he seemed quietly confident that we would put in a good showing and come away with a positive first leg result.
By and large we did just that. It was a pretty tight and tricky game, and although both sides did have a good number of opportunities on goal, clear cut chances that really tested either keeper were in far shorter supply.
The hosts did ultimately take the lead in first half stoppage time, but with just over 20 minutes remaining on the clock, Romelu Lukaku had us back on level terms as he connected with a Leonardo Spinazzola delivery in the 67th minute of the game.
All things considered, there will not be many fans in Roma’s fan base that would not take the draw, especially as Feyenoord did hit the woodwork late on and could have snatched the win.
As things stand though, there is every reason to believe we can now take the win in the second leg clash on home soil at the Stadio Olimpico and continue to progress further in the competition.
It has been a pretty decent start for De Rossi so far, and fans should certainly expect further improvement as he continues to get longer to work with the players, but we will have to see what decisions are taken at the end of the season.
A stronger finish to the campaign will certainly do his chances no harm at all though if he does fancy taking the job on permanently.
