Roma and Spezia played each other two times in the space of four days and shared one win apiece. But that was only the small detail as they also shared a staggering 13 goals between them.
Quite incredibly Spezia beat Roma 4-2 in the Coppa Italia to knock Roma out of the competition and then pile on the pressure for coach Paulo Fonseca. But at the weekend Roma avenged that defeat as they beat Spezia in another thrilling game which had 7 goals in it as the Giallorossi won 4-3.
The action flew off from the 17th minute as Roma took the lead through Borja Mayoral who has been in very good form lately. He was assisted by Lorenzo Pellegrini and gave the keeper no chance to put the home team 1-0 up. However soon after it was 1-1 when Roberto Piccoli equalised for the visitors. He was never going to miss from just a few yards out as an initial shot from the club rebounded like a present for him and he made no mistakes.
At this point Roma would have been forgiven for thinking not again just as Spezia had showed so much courage in the cup game. Though there would be 7 goals the first half ended 1-1 and it was clear whilst Spezia were a threat in numbers Roma had been the better team.
However within seven minutes of the restart Roma had taken the lead with another superb shot from Mayoral and then just three minutes later Rick Kardsdrop made it 3-1 to the home side and the tie looked dead on its feet. The joy from the players was infectious by this point and there looked like no coming back from Spezia this time.
But the story wasn’t done yet and in a 2nd half which saw 3 goals in the opening 14 minutes Spezia pulled one back to make it 3-2. Then came the excitement and what a finish to the game it would be.
In the 90th minute against all the odds Spezia equalised to make it 3-3, having at one point trailed the game 3-1. Daniele Verde was the hero and he looked to have earned a point for the visitors and Spezia were officially going to be named as a thorn in the side of the Giallorossi. But this game wasn’t over even if there were only seconds left on the clock.
In the 92nd minute Lorenzo Pellegrini who had been all over the pitch and been the provider for quite a game scored a terrific shot that flew in the net for a last minute winner. The scenes on the pitch even sadly without the fans still generated quite a fantastic atmosphere.
It was great news for Roma too because Milan in 1st place lost against Atlanta and Inter could only draw away to Udinese so Roma caught both of them up and the Giallorossi are now only six points behind league leaders Milan. This title hunt is not over.
Dzeko set to leave but Alexis could come in
Edin Dzeko has had words with coach Paulo Fonseca to the point that both men have fallen out with one another and it has been reported that Dzeko has now been training on his own. But it doesn’t end there.
Official meetings have been held between Roma and Inter about a loan swap deal which would see Dzeko go to Inter probably as a back up squad player and Alexis Sanchez come to Roma.
With Inter in with a good shout of the Serie A title Sanchez may not want to leave but Dzeko will want as faraway as the capital as he can get. A deal if one happens could be concluded this week.
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