Roma Women will begin their pursuit of a fourth Scudetto in five years on Sunday, with an away match at Sassuolo being the first game on their Serie A schedule this season.
Gianpiero Piovani’s side go into the game on the back of a 0-0 draw with OH Leuven at the start of the Champions League league phase, which could have been a win if Marta Pandini hadn’t hit the post with a late penalty. Given the difficulty of some of Roma’s other Champions League opponents, it was especially frustrating.
That unfortunate
failure, on the back of a gutting penalty shootout defeat to Juventus in the final of the Serie A Women’s Cup (after being 2-0 up in regulation time), has somewhat dampened the enthusiasm at the outset of a league campaign in which Roma have a title to try and retain.
Match Details
Date: September 27th
Kickoff: 15:00 CET/9:00 EDT
Venue: Stadio Enzo Ricci, Sassuolo
Referee: A. Vicenzi
But it’s a hard league to call this season and Roma’s target is to start strongly. Their familiarity with their opponents may help; this will be their third meeting with Sassuolo already in the space of a month.
Their fortunes from the previous pair of games, both in the Serie A Women’s Cup, contrasted wildly. At the end of August, Sassuolo inflicted a 1-0 defeat on Roma in the group stage, prompting some harsh feedback from Piovani that the new coach subsequently had to apologise for.
When Roma and Sassuolo met again in the semi-finals, this time in Emilia-Romagna, the Giallorosse enjoyed one of their most dominant wins in recent memory. Two quickfire goals from recent signing Kayleigh van Dooren helped Roma on their way to a 7-1 win, with Martina Piemonte hitting a hat trick and midfielders Maya Doms and Manuela Giugliano getting on the scoresheet too.
Back at the same scene, Roma will be hoping for similar fortunes to get up and running in the league.
Being the last game of the weekend in the league, Roma will know exactly what they need to do to take the early lead in the standings. Juventus will have faced Napoli on Saturday and Inter will have hosted Fiorentina earlier on Sunday, representing potentially tricky encounters for some of the main rivals to Roma’s title hopes.
And on paper, recent mishap aside, Roma’s record against Sassuolo bodes well. Of 18 previous meetings in Serie A, Roma’s only defeat to Sassuolo was way back in their very first fixture in their inaugural season of 2018-19.
Incidentally, Piemonte was among the scorers that day, but she had to settle for a place on the bench against OH Leuven after suffering a blow to the ribs in the Juventus game. Roma lacked a focal point until she came on, so will be hoping for more positive news over her availability for the Sassuolo game.
As for Roma’s other summer signings, there could be league debuts for the club for the likes of Ella Ottey, Elisabetta Oliviero, Van Dooren and, against the club she joined from, Doms.
The game is scheduled to kick off at 3pm local time on Sunday.
