Roma Women hosted Juventus Women in the fifth fixture of Serie A Women and the game ended with a difficult 1-2 Juventus win thanks to the goals of Martina Rosucci and Andrea Stašková who were successful in turning the table on Roma after Lucia Di Guglielmo’s first goal of the match at the 28th minute.
This Roma performance showed once again that this team is becoming stronger every season and can obviously challenge seriously for the UEFA Women’s Champions League spot along with Milan, Sassuolo, Inter and Fiorentina. But at the same time, Juventus proved that they’re ready to do everything to conserve their league title for another season despite the growing challenge from the other teams. Therefore, beating one of the direct opponents can only be an important step towards winning the 2021-2022 Serie A title.
In this tactical analysis, the focus will be on Roma’s attack and their attempts to surpass Juventus’s defence while also looking at Juventus’ tactics and how they countered these attempts. This will be done by using data and clear examples from the match.
Line-ups
Roma started the match with the 4-3-3 formation relying on Camelia Ceasar as a goalkeeper, Lucia Di Guglielmo, Allyson Swaby, Elena Linari and Elisa Bartoli in defence, Thaisa, Andressa Alves and Giada Greggi as central midfielders with Benedetta Glionna and Annamaria Serturini as wingers to support former Sassuolo striker, Valeria Pirone.
On the other hand, Joe Montemurro and his staff opted for the 4-3-3 formation too with Pauline Peyraud Magnin as a goalkeeper, Tuija Hyyrynen, Martina Lenzini, Cecilia Salvai and Lisa Boattin in defence, Sofie Junge Pedersen, Martina Rosucci and Valentina Cernoia as central midfielders with Lina Hurtig and Barbara Bonansea as wingers supporting the team’s striker, Cristiana Girelli.
Roma’s attacking performance
Roma started this match without fear of their opponent and without hesitance especially in terms of attacking despite the absence of their fundamental midfielder and playmaker Manuela Giugliano. Roma therefore relied on both wingers to create chances as Juventus defended narrowly and left some manoeuvring space for excellent players like Glionna and Serturini. That’s exactly why we noticed numerous dangerous crosses especially in the first-half and from both wings while Pirone wasn’t able to exploit such long passes due to marking. The former Sassuolo striker could have done better in this regard as she had the opportunity to escape from marking several times especially when defenders left some distance between them and her, such as in the following example.
