At 03:45 a.m. Beijing time on January 8, the 19th round of Serie A will stage an interesting strong dialogue, and the Red Wolves Roma will host the powerful Atalanta.
This season, Roma under Mourinho, is still in an up-and-down state, the first 18 rounds of Serie A, they have 8 wins, 4 draws and 6 losses, accumulating 28 points, only ranked 7th in the Serie A standings. Considering that Inter Milan has been left at the top of the table by a huge gap of 17 points, it means that Roma have withdrawn from the Serie A title race this season early. At present, Roma are still five points away from the top four in Serie A, so competing for the top four in Serie A is a more pragmatic strategic goal for Mourinho.
Past head-to-head records show that Roma has met Atalanta in the past 5 times, with a record of 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss, which means that the two teams are equal in combat effectiveness and difficult to distinguish, which is destined to be an unpredictable battle. Encountering such a strong opponent, Mourinho naturally does not dare to slack off, and will inevitably sacrifice the strongest starting lineup in his mind as much as possible.
In the goalkeeper position, it is naturally the main goalkeeper Patricio who guards the Red Wolves goal; on the back line, according to Mourinho's usual Xi of employing people, it is naturally still a commonly used 3-back formation, and the three defenders who are likely to start will be Celik, Cristante and Spanish international Diego Llorente.
In terms of midfield, there is no doubt that the main midfielder responsible for interceptions and tackles in the central midfield of Roma will still be the Argentine international iron Paredes, and the duo with Paredes to form a double midfield combination should be the young Italian midfielder Beauvais. In front of the double midfield, it is naturally Roma captain Lorenzo Pellegrini who sits in the midfield to take the lead, strategize, pass the ball and feed the cake, and dominate Roma's attacking line. On the flanks of midfield, it is expected that Spinazzola and Karlsdorp will play an important role in both attacking and defending, attacking and defending.
On the forward line, it is not surprising that it will still be the Belgian ace Lukaku who will charge for Roma in the front, and the forward combination with Lukaku should be the Argentine demon Dybala, who has just returned from injury.
Based on the above analysis, the final expected 11-man starting lineup for Roma against Atalanta is: Patricio, Celik, Cristante, Diego Llorente, Paredes, Beauvais, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Spinazzola, Karlsdorp, Lukaku, Dybala