At 3:45 a.m. Beijing time on December 14, a match in the 17th round of Serie A began to be contested, with Roma facing Spezia at home. Roma's first 16 league games have won 8 wins, drawn 1 draw and 7 defeats, which is somewhat embarrassing, and there is a certain distance from the Champions League zone. Roma have been in some poor form in the league recently, losing back-to-back defeats, first 1-0 away to Bologna and then 3-0 at home to Inter. For Roma to qualify for European competition, it is not easy to lose points. Roma played an UEFA Match against CSKA Sofia four days ago, resulting in a narrow 3-2 victory for Roma, which allowed Roma to advance directly to the knockout round as the no. 1 in the group, which is one of the few pieces of good news for Roma in recent times. Roma returned to the league this time to face relegation side Spezia. Last season's two-legged meeting against Roma won 1 and drew 1. Against a team of this level, Roma won, the score was 2-0!
Mourinho lined up in a 352 formation for the match. Patricio served as the starting goalkeeper. Roger Ibanez, Smalling and Kumubra are paired at 3 defenders. Karlsdorp, Welletu, Christant, Mkhitaryan and Binia make up five midfielders. Malayol and Abraham joined forces. Shomurodov and Gian sat on the bench. Lorenzo Pellegrini and Sharavi are out with injuries. Gianluca Mancini and Zaniolo are both suspended and sidelined.
Roma got off to a fantastic start to the match, with Smalling scoring roma on a header in the 6th minute. However, Roma fell silent for quite some time after this goal. It wasn't until 20 minutes later that Roma had several good chances in quick succession, but Neither Vigna nor Tammy Abraham scored. Towards the end of the first half, Tammy Abraham had the opportunity to extend the score, but unfortunately was rejected by the goal frame. Tammy Abraham has hit the goal frame seven times this season, an embarrassing statistic that equals Messi and is tied for No. 1 in the top five leagues. Roma ended the half with a 1-0 lead. Roma had 54% possession in the first half, scoring 1 goal on 4 of 8 shots on target. Spezia, on the other hand, scored three shots on target in the first half, one on target, and failed to score.
In the second half, Spezia did not have much improvement and the manager had to make a major substitution in the 53rd minute, hoping to make some changes. Spezia quickly conceded another goal. This time it was Ibanez who scored the goal, also with a header. Spezia then had several chances, but was either blown offside or defused by the goalkeeper and never scored. The only bad news for Roma was that Angie was sent off at the last minute for deliberate handball, turning two yellows into one red. Mourinho was furious at the referee's decision. The final score was set at 2-0 and Roma won. Roma overtook Juve in points to finish 6th.
In the post-match whoscored rating, Ibanez scored a game-high 8.4 points, he scored 1 goal, 4 clearances, 4 interceptions, and performed impeccably on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends. Smalling scored 7.8 points, he also scored 1 goal and 6 key passes. The excellent performance of the two defenders allowed Roma, who was missing major generals, to win the game. Although he won, Mourinho was not satisfied with the course of the game, and he believed that the team always lost the ball easily and did not do a good job of passing.