Roma will have revenge on the mind when they meet Cremonese in round 24 of the Serie A campaign.
The Giallorossi face-off against the Grigiorossi for the first time since they were knocked out of the Coppa Italia by the minnows earlier this month.
After back to back to back home wins, Jose Mourinho’s men travel to Lombardy to face the Serie A cellar dwellers, who still haven’t won a league fixture this season.
Fresh off their Europa League scalp of RB Salzburg, the capital club enter Tuesday with just one loss in their previous ten league clashes.
After an up and down first half, Roma have found consistency since the World Cup break and have welcomed back a number of injured players, including Georginio Wijnaldum.
The Dutchman is expected to make his very first start with the club since joining last summer on loan. He recently returned to the fold following his recovery from a fractured tibia injury after missing nearly five months of actions.
After a handful of substitute appearances, Wijnaldum is widely predicted to start in Jose Mourinho’s midfield alongside Bryan Cristante.
On the other side, Cremonese boss Davide Ballardini insists that Tuesday’s fixture will be much different than the cup clash from February 1st.
“Roma are a very motivated team that has the ambition to reach the Champions League, but we too have the ambition to compete with them. In terms of motivations we have as much as they do,” he told reporters.
“Tomorrow’s match is a whole different story compared to the Coppa Italia. The match in Coppa Italia was important because it showed that Cremonese are also capable of playing against strong, high-profile teams like Roma and Napoli, but tomorrow’s match is another chapter.”
“We must forget about what we’ve done in the past. Tomorrow we must play as well as before if not better,” he added.
Kick-off is scheduled for 18.30 local time at the Stadio Giovanni Zini in Cremona.
CREMONESE (3-5-2) Carnesecchi; Ferrari, Chiriches, Aiwu; Sernicola, Benassi, Meitè, Pickel, Valeri; Dessers, Okereke
ROMA (3-4-2-1) Rui Patricio; Mancini, Kumbulla, Ibanez; Karsdorp, Wijnaldum, Cristante, El Shaarawy; Solbakken, Pellegrini; Belotti
