Last week, AS Roma’s 2024/25 European journey came to an end.
Despite having met Athletic Club in the first match of the ‘League Phase’ of this season’s UEFA Europa League and finishing the match with a 1-1 draw, the Giallorossi failed to win in the Round of 16 against the same Spanish opponent despite winning 2-1 in the first leg at the Stadio Olimpico.
Things did not go their way in the second leg at the San Mamés Stadium.
They lost the services of their renowned German defender, Mats Hummels, early in the match.
This caused them to play more than 80 minutes with a numerical inferiority and, therefore, failed to resist Athletic Club’s goalscoring attempts.
In this tactical analysis article, we will shed light on Roma’s defensive issues that resulted in four goals conceded to Athletic Club in the Round of 16.
The analysis will also explore Roma’s overall performance in this season’s UEFA Europa League, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses in terms of tactics and individual performances in this tournament.
Roma’s performances under Claudio Ranieri’s management have improved greatly this season.
The veteran Italian head coach succeeded in adding what was missing at Roma: The team’s organisation and each player’s duties, the desire to win, the team’s awareness of their objectives, and, more importantly, unity.
These values and standards have been set progressively, and the results of such work are positive, especially if we compare the team’s results and performances with those of last season.
Despite their painful exclusion from the UEFA Europa League, it is not really wise to argue that Roma’s season is negative as the team has been put back on track in Serie A, with 46 points so far (13 wins, seven draws and eight losses).
Roma are ranked seventh in the Serie A standings, ahead of Milan and Fiorentina.
They are four points away from the sixth spot, which qualifies for the UEFA Conference League, which is currently held by Bologna.
This also means that Roma will need to bridge the five-point gap between them and their city rival, Lazio, if they are to target a UEFA Europa League qualifying spot.
League Phase: Roma’s Performances & Progress
It is important to note that Roma successfully passed several complicated tests in the League Phase despite the difficult period they have been going through since last season.
Roma opened the tournament with a very promising performance against Athletic Club, even though they could not win the three points.
Nevertheless, they scored a beautiful goal that confirmed this group’s potential, especially from an attacking perspective.
The goal showcases the individual and collective talents of players like Paulo Dybala, Tommaso Baldanzi, Artem Dovbyk, and Angeliño.
It was Dybala who initiated the action thanks to his exceptional agility and dribbling skills, before passing to Baldanzi who quickly switched the play to the left where Angeliño was excellent in advancing on the left-wing with the ball and in crossing in accurately to Dovbyk who timed his jump and header perfectly to anticipate the defenders and the goalkeeper, scoring an outstanding goal.
Dovbyk Header Vs Athletic Club
Later in that same game, Roma had chances to score additional goals but did not succeed in doing so.
At the same time, they failed to defend against an Athletic Club free-kick at the 84th minute, which led to conceding the equalising goal in a manner that points out Roma’s defensive and organisational issues in their own penalty box.
Set-Piece Defending Issues Vs Athletic Club
Following the disappointing away loss against Elfsborg, mainly due to a defensive mistake that led to a penalty being awarded to Elfsborg, Roma succeeded in winning against Dynamo Kiev at home thanks to Artem Dovbyk’s penalty, knowing that the team’s performance was not very convincing.
Furthermore, the draw against Union Saint-Gilloise made things worse.
It fastened the sacking of Ivan Jurić and the appointment of Claudio Ranieri, whose first match in the Europa League was against Tottenham.
Avoiding a defeat at Tottenham and succeeding in snatching a draw in the last minutes of the match helped the team gain confidence, team personality, and unity.
Following a defensive error from Mats Hummels that resulted in a penalty to Tottenham, Roma got back in the game thanks to Evan Ndicka’s header and Dybala’s pinpointed set-piece taking.
Roma struggled to defend against Tottenham’s recurrent attacks but succeeded in remaining compact, deviating their shots, and intercepting numerous dangerous passes.
At the same time, Roma created numerous goal-scoring chances, too, as their pressing was high on numerous occasions.
That’s how they could disturb Tottenham’s defence, exploiting Dybala’s pace and Dovbyk’s movements without the ball inside the box.
This picture highlights how high Roma’s two initial lines of defence were.
Both lines were in Tottenham’s own half, as eight Roma players were inside Tottenham’s half before the ball was intercepted.
AS Roma Impactful Pressing Vs Tottenham
But despite these attempts, Roma conceded the second goal due to poor marking from Angeliño during a Tottenham cross, knowing that Tottenham missed numerous other chances.
But in the end, Roma’s team personality and ambition to win helped them score their equalising goal despite their poor second-half performance.
They exploited their last-minute possession to win a few corner kicks and eventually score one of them, thanks to Hummels’ finish.
This win boosted Roma’s players’ morale and helped them win 3-0 against SC Braga.
They finished the League phase in the 15th spot after losing against AZ Alkmaar and winning against Eintracht Frankfurt.
In that last match against Eintracht Frankfurt, Roma made things easier for themselves with a goal at the end of the first half from Angeliño, then finished the match at the 69th minute thanks to an exceptional solo effort from Matías Soulé followed by a remarkable finish from Eldor Shomurodov.
The second goal showcases that Roma’s squad is not as limited as it seems.
Names like Soulé and Shomurodov succeeded in making the needed difference when Dybala and Dovbyk were not having their best days.
Round Of 32: Roma’s Performance Vs Porto
Claudio Ranieri knew how to deal with both ties against Porto using the 3-5-2 formation in the away match, relying on the attacking duo of Dybala-Dovbyk while opting for the 3-4-2-1 formation in the second leg with Shomurodov replacing the unavailable Dovbyk.
Roma’s defensive organisation and reliance on an intensified midfield in the away game helped them limit Porto’s attacking threat.
This allowed them to wait at the back and try to exploit any possible counterattacking opportunity.
Manu Koné and Tommaso Baldanzi intercepted the ball in midfield and launched a counterattack, relying on Baldanzi’s penetration skills.
The latter passed the ball to Alexis Saelemakers, who directly provided a through pass to Dovbyk.
Çelik was attentive enough to notice Dovbyk’s inability to finish and ran towards the ball, anticipating the defender’s action and reaching the ball first to score a fundamental goal for Roma.
As you can see in the following picture, Roma have been outstanding when counterattacking mainly because they have many agile and pacy players and also because they usually counterattack with more than three or four players (in this case five).
Çelik’s Goal Vs Porto
Following that goal, Roma conceded an unexpected goal from Porto since they had to face a quick counterattack launched by the goalkeeper while Roma’s defence and goalkeeper were unprepared.
This lack of quick defensive re-organisation following Roma’s attacks cost the team a goal, even though they successfully blocked the initial shooting attempt.
This highlights the importance of attention to such details that Roma and many other teams might overlook at times, mainly due to a lack of concentration.
Following the frustrating equalising goal, Roma conceded another goal at the start of the second leg as they left too much space and time for Porto to score.
Dybala’s talent and agility, however, made the difference for Roma.
He succeeded in breaking Porto’s defensive lines with a triangular passing combination, which resulted in a one-on-one duel with the goalkeeper.
Dybala’s First Goal Vs Porto
Dybala’s crucial finish got Roma in the game once again.
His ability to repeat almost the same action but from a more distant position was astonishing, knowing that Dybala started this action near the touchline, as you can see, prior to penetrating the box without the ball and finishing the action with a powerful yet well-oriented shot that went inside the net.
Dybala’s Second Goal Vs Porto
In the second half, Roma secured a valuable win as Niccolò Pisilli exploited a golden cross from Angeliño to score the third goal before conceding an own goal in the game’s final minutes.
Round Of 16: Roma’s Performance Vs Athletic Club
Roma started their first game against Athletic Club cautiously yet with the ambition to score as early as possible.
However, the Spanish side knew how to resist Roma’s attacks, and their defense was aggressive in duels.
Despite that, Roma were very close to scoring their first goal at the 40th minute when Baldanzi intercepted a wrong backward header and knew how to protect the ball until defenders surrounded him to pass it to Dybala who was coming from the back.
Luckily for Athletic Club, Dybala’s shot hit the crossbar.
Baldanzi’s Exploitation Of Athletic Club’s Defensive Errors
Soon after, Roma received their first attacking threat from a poorly defended corner kick, and they conceded another dangerous opportunity in the last minutes of the first half.
As the second half began, Athletic Club won another corner kick and scored, exploiting Roma’s recurrent poor marking during such set-pieces.
Their conceded goal against the Bilbao side in the League Phase was also from a corner kick.
Following that goal, Roma created other chances and were very close to scoring.
Still, Baldanzi’s inaccurate finishing and Pissili’s powerful yet distant shot from distance prevented Roma from getting the advantage.
Only Angeliño could score that first goal for Roma, exploiting Çelik’s cross and his marker’s unawareness of his intentions and movement to arrive first to Çelik’s pass.
Angeliño’s Goal Vs Athletic Club
Adding a second goal in the last minutes of the game, especially after pushing Yeray to commit a second error and be sent off, made Roma satisfied with the outcome of the first leg.
However, everything changed in Bilbao.
Roma did not start the match well.
Hummels was sent off in the 10th minute after he provided a wrong pass and was obliged to make a sliding tackle to save his team from conceding a goal.
Soon after, Nico Williams and Aitor Paredes created dangerous opportunities but failed to score, mainly thanks to Mile Svilar’s saves.
But at the end of the first half, Nico Williams succeeded in scoring after some confusion in Roma’s defence during a cross from the left wing, mainly due to a deviation that Williams well exploited.
At the same time, Angeliño failed to react as quickly as needed to prevent him from shooting.
Nico Williams’s Goal
During the second half, Roma did their best to resist Athletic Club’s intense and recurrent attacks and counter-attacks but failed to limit their danger despite their crucial saves and interceptions.
Athletic Bilbao succeeded in complicating things for Roma with their second goal, which was scored from a corner kick that Roma’s players did not defend as needed.
This set-piece defending aspect represents a serious issue for Roma at the moment, and it should be fixed as soon as possible.
It has cost the team many decisive goals this season, especially against sides that know how to deal with such opportunities like Athletic Club.
In fact, Angeliño was marking Yuri Berchiche at the beginning of the action.
Still, when the latter moved towards the ball to try anticipating it, Angeliño preferred to retreat towards the goal instead of marking Berchiche tightly, leaving him unmarked and capable of jumping and heading the ball without much disturbance.
Angeliño’s Marking Error
Conclusion
Many circumstances, such as Hummels’s sending off, made things much more complicated for Roma in the second leg of this encounter.
Overall, some defensive adjustments in terms of marking and extensive collective training on set-piece defending are becoming urgent to help make Roma’s defence more compact, especially when facing bigger teams.
Attacking-wise, the team has what it takes to threaten most opponents, but it needs to find more consistency in terms of performances and more qualitative squad depth in attack.
