Juventus are in desperate need of points in Serie A right now. They find themselves four points off fourth place, with Champions League qualification now the only target left remaining following elimination from Europe earlier in the week. Midweek fixtures are now a thing of the past for the rest of the 2025-26 season, with one game a week from here on out.
So who’s next up on the schedule?
Oh, just the team that is in front of Juventus in the Serie A standings.
Sunday night sees Juve make the trip
to the Stadio Olimpico in Rome to face a Roma squad that is four points ahead of Luciano Spalletti’s squad in the race for Italy’s fourth and likely final Champions League qualification spot. It is a game in which Juve can get right back in the conversation with a win, or see their chances of getting into Europe’s premier club competition take a serious hit if they are to lose a Roma side that will be much more rested than the Bianconeri.
Speaking of conversations …
With Roma next up on the schedule, it only feels right that we welcome back one of the good friends of the blog, Chiesa Di Totti head honcho Bren, to talk about what’s going on at his favorite club these days. And considering Roma had a much better month of February than Juventus did, it’s safe to say he’s in a better mood than any of us currently are when it comes to our favorite team.
So let’s not wait any longer to hear what our guy Bren has to say about Roma. Away we go …
BWRAO: Greetings as always, Bren. Always nice for a chat. It’s been a few months, so we’ve got some things to discuss. Let’s start with this: How would you sum up Roma’s current run of form? The first two months of 2026 have had some very clear highs but also some very noticeable lows …
CDT: Well, my knee-jerk reaction to this question was to opine on the chaotic nature of Roma in general. However, since New Year’s, they’ve gone 6-3-3 (W-D-L); they’ve faltered only in the big matches (AC Milan and Napoli). Even then, they still managed two points from two difficult fixtures. I know we’ll touch on this in the next few questions, but I think what we’re seeing is a natural result of a months-long acclimation period for Gasperini and the squad, accelerated by a few key additions, players better suited to his style of attack. There are still frustrating moments, of course, and the injuries are starting to pile up, but the past two months have bolstered my faith in Gasperini’s ability to recreate his Atalanta success in the capital.
BWRAO: Donyell Malen, what the hell? Where did this come from?
CDT: You got me! I don’t have time to follow other European leagues as closely as Serie A, so I hadn’t heard of him. For a minute, I thought they signed former UCONN standout Donyell Marshall, which my keyboard can attest to, since I type that name nearly 75% of the time when referring to Malen. I think his success stands out so much because his predecessors, Artem Dovbyk and Evan Ferguson, are awkward fits for Gasperini. Malen has all the traits Gasp requires from his forwards: pace, aggression, and quick thinking. Dovbyk and Ferguson have many good qualities, but Malen fits the system better — and I think that’s why the club has performed better over the past two months.
BWRAO: How do you feel like Gasp has changed things up with this team from the first meeting between Juve and Roma in December? Is it simply this team is playing better with more time with their new manager?
CDT: Yeah, I think you nailed it. It’s a combination of both sides getting accustomed to each other — their respective strengths, weaknesses, and personalities — and the addition of players like Malen, Lorenzo Venturino, and Bryan Zaragoza, who have accelerated the club’s development as a whole simply because they are Gasperini players. I get the feeling he’s not entirely satisfied with the squad’s quality, but it’s starting to feel more like Atalanta than it did in the fall.
BWRAO: How much has Roma’s league-best defense played into the success recently and just overall this season?
CDT: They would’ve been lost without Evan Ndicka, Gianluca Mancini, Zeki Celik, and especially Mile Svilar. When Roma’s attack struggled to create chances (let alone finish them), the backline was the only thing keeping Roma from falling much further down the table. And now that I think of it, the credit really goes to Claudio Ranieri, who brought the best out of the defense last spring, pulling Roma up from the relegation zone and using the same cast of characters to take the life out of a match. And now we can add Daniele Ghilardi to that list, who looks incredibly promising as a proto-Nesta, and Jan Ziolkowski, who has a bit of Dean Huijsen in him.
BWRAO: Is Paulo Dybala as good as gone come the end of the season?
CDT: I’m not sure, to be honest. Prior to his recent knee trouble, Dybala was pretty healthy, making over 20 appearances in all competitions and averaging about 60 minutes per appearance. At this point, there’s no delusion that he’s going to start 30 matches, and the 45-65-minute range feels right for a 32-year-old forward. The question is whether he’s willing to accept that role and the reduced salary that comes with it. With whispers that Leandro Paredes is trying to lure him to Boca Juniors, the pull of returning home could ultimately win out. Long story short; I’m not ruling out a return, especially if Roma qualifies for the Champions League, but he does have compelling reasons to return to Argentina.
BWRAO: Prediction(s) for Sunday night?
CDT: Given the historical imbalance between these two clubs, I always hesitate to predict a flat-out victory for Roma, but since Juve is going to go through a rough and busy patch, andbecause the match is in Rome, I think we got this one. Roma 2, Juventus 1
