It may have taken nearly eight years for Roma to return to Europe’s biggest stage, but we only needed a few moments to remember how special Champions League evenings can be. From the opening notes of the Champions League anthem to the impressive, Frankenstein-esque tifo by Fenerbahçe fans and even the presence of a few CL winners on the other side of the pitch, the magic of the moment didn’t escape Roma supporters.
Following last weekend’s thrilling come-from-behind victory over Atalanta, not to mention
a pair of 4-0 drubbings before that, Roma was riding high heading into their first Champions League fixture since the spring of 2019. However, as impressive as the Giallorossi are playing at the moment, it would have been foolish to expect a repeat of last weekend, when Roma piled up nearly 40 shots against Atalanta.
Still, it was a bit surprising to see Gasperini’s attack struggle early against Fenerbahçe. Whether that was due to tactical shortcomings or merely nervousness on Roma’s part, we cannot say. The end-to-end action we’ve seen over the past few weeks disappeared in the first half. Roma had no trouble stifling Fenerbahçe’s attack and winning the ball in wide spaces.
The problem was a lack of fluidity. After winning the ball, Roma would make the first pass or move, but the secondary and tertiary passes, not to mention the off-the-ball runs, were lacking or quickly snuffed out. A week after firing from the hip, Roma was restrained, failing to register a shot on goal in the first 20 minutes.
Roma’s good fortune was that Fenerbahçe weren’t faring any better in attack. Apart from a few dangerous moments from Mason Greenwood and Kerem Aktürkoglu, the home side wasn’t threatening. Still, with a raucous crowd on their side and Roma’s attack effectively grounded, momentum seemed to favor the home side.
But then, for perhaps the first time in the entire match, Donyell Malen decided to take matters into his own hands.
After receiving the ball some 30 yards from goal, Malen beat the first defender with a clever touch-and-run before dribbling past two more defenders as he skirted across the 18-yard box. Then, just when it seemed he was going to call his own number, he spotted Cristante to his right, laid the ball off to the club captain, who beat Ederson with a low, driven shot.
Moments later, Wesley had a chance to pad Roma’s lead with a wide-open volley, but in his haste, the young Brazilian took his eye off the ball at the last moment, and the chance went to waste. Still, considering how passively they played for most of the first half, heading into the break with a one-goal lead was good business for Gasperini’s group.
But their joy was short-lived as Fenerbahçe found an equalizer a mere three minutes into the new half.
There wasn’t anything particularly astounding about this goal, but Fenerbahçe did well to pull Roma’s backline off its moorings, allowing Greenwood to find Brown with a tidy little pocket pass that knotted the match at 1-1. While this was a wonderfully succinct passage of play from the Turkish club, one can’t help but wonder how things would have unfolded if Gianluca Mancini hadn’t been quite so aggressive , jumping the passing lane and allowing Brown a free run at goal.
Still, with nearly 45 minutes to play and a bevy of attacking options at their disposal, Roma’s goose wasn’t cooked just yet. However, despite that optimism, Roma continued to struggle in the run of play for most of the second half. Whether it was due to poorly timed passes, poor spacing on the pitch, or simply poor decision-making, Roma’s lack of execution wasn’t hard to miss.
The club caught a lucky break midway through the second half when Dybala was clipped as he entered the 18, but after a quick VAR check, the match-saving PK was downgraded to a tempting set piece at the edge of the box. Rather than test Ederson with a curled effort at the right post, Dybala played a short one-timer to Malen, whose thumping effort went wide.
Gasperini responded with a subtle shift in approach, removing Malen in favor of Rodrigo Mora and using the 19-year-old alongside Dybala for the rest of the second half. It wasn’t a classic two-striker look in the strictest sense, but it nonetheless sought to address the isolation Malen had experienced for most of the match.
Despite those good intentions, this change did little to improve Roma’s struggling attack. The Giallorossi managed only one shot on goal in the final 15-20 minutes and were a Nathan Aké header off the crossbar away from leaving Istanbul with nothing to show for their efforts.
Final Thoughts
From 39 shots on Saturday against Atalanta to eight this evening against Fenerbahçe, Roma has been a study in contrast over the past week. We could chalk some of that up to nerves, the intensity of the atmosphere, or even early-season fatigue, but Roma simply wasn’t up to snuff today.
Whatever the cause, Roma showed a strange mix of passivity and impatience, alternatively looking stagnant and overreliant on Dybala while at other times they pressed too much, playing the first pass without considering where the second and third ball would be played, to say nothing of the corresponding runs that would shake the defense loose.
These types of performances creep in every few weeks, so let’s be thankful that Roma capitalized on their best chance of the match, kicking off the League Phase with a valuable point.
Up Next
Roma returns to Serie A with a trip to Torino on Monday.
