After Inter won the league title five rounds in advance, the next big suspense in Serie A is who owns the Champions League qualification seat. Given the Serie A teams' excellent performances in Europe, they have already secured the top two European points, so next season's Champions League expansion will see Serie A secure five places.
Judging from the standings, the Milan duo have already locked in the Champions League qualification for next season in advance, and Juventus getting a place is also a high probability event. With five league games remaining, Bologna, Roma, Atalanta and Lazio will be battling it out for the last two Champions League places.
In the early morning of April 29, Beijing time, Roma challenged Napoli away from home, as the defending champion, Napoli was only ranked 9th before the game after a series of turmoil, but Roma coach De Rossi obviously did not dare to despise the opponent, and he still played his main role in this game. With Romelu Lukaku out injured, De Rossi had to deploy an attacking combination starting with Dybala, El Shaarawy and Azmoun, with little change in the rest of the midfield.
After the start of the game, the two sides were still very fierce, but they did not achieve anything in the first half. Roma took a 59th-minute lead from a 59th-minute penalty to a 1-0 lead from Dybala's penalty, but it didn't last long, with Napoli's Oliveira equalising just five minutes later. In the 84th minute of the game, Osimhen helped Napoli to overtake Roma 2-1 through penalties. Just as Roma fans were about to return disappointed, England striker Tammy Abraham returned from injury and scored with a header in the 89th minute to earn a valuable point in a 2-2 draw away from home.
In the other Serie A matches, Bologna were held to a 1-1 draw by Udinese, Atalanta beat Empoli 2-0 at home and Lazio beat Verona 1-0 at home.
At the end of this round, Roma are still fifth in the table with 59 points, and he is still four points clear of Bologna in the top four, but the latter is in good form and has only a theoretical chance of catching him. It must be noted that Atalanta and Lazio behind Roma have quietly followed, especially with the true blue and black only 2 points away from Roma with one game less.
Judging from the next game arrangement, it is still very difficult for Roma, they will first face Bayer Leverkusen at home with an unbeaten record of 46 games in the season, then continue to face Juventus at home, and then go to challenge Bayer Leverkusen away, and after the Europa League semi-finals, Roma will also go away to Atalanta for a life-and-death battle, and the last two rounds of Serie A they will play against the underdogs Genoa and Empoli respectively.
To be sure, Roma have almost no chance of winning against Marcos Alonso's side in the Europa League, and it remains to be seen whether De Rossi will do his best to win the Europa League.
But in Serie A, Roma still seems to have some hope, first of all, Juventus has no desire, they don't need to smash Roma, De Rossi should still have hope of getting points at home. However, it will be very difficult to challenge Atalanta away, although the true blue and black are also dragged down by the Europa League, but their opponents are only the average Ligue 1 side Marseille, so Atalanta can still maintain enough strength to face Roma at home.
Judging from the Serie A game, Atalanta also needs to face Juventus, but the other opponents are not strong, so as long as they win Roma at home, the possibility of breaking into the top five of Serie A is still very high.
Of course, for Lazio, Roma cannot be taken lightly, it is also more likely to get nine points in the remaining four rounds, and there is also a certain chance of qualifying for next season's Champions League.
What is certain is that as the current manager of Roma, De Rossi is certainly not willing to live in the shadow of Mourinho, and in order to surpass Mourinho and prove himself, the best way is to lead Roma to qualify for the Champions League next season.
However, from the analysis of the above matchups, it is very difficult for Roma to get their own results in both the Europa League and the league. Of course, if Atalanta can win the Europa League, Roma will have a chance of qualifying for next season's Champions League even if they finish 6th in Serie A.