Roma’s bid to win an 11th successive Serie A fixture against Udinese came to an end at the Dacia Arena on Saturday afternoon as main man Rodrigo De Paul was the hero once more in a 1-0 win.
An away victory would have taken them into third place in the all time standings for bullying one particular side over a prolonged period of time, as another win would have put them behind only AC Milan against Chievo and Juventus taking on Atalanta, with each winning 13 consecutive games.
However, their assault on 11 was ended by Udinese’s No. 10, who once again delivered the goods to haul his side out of the drop zone.
The first half played out as you may expect from a game that featured plenty of turnover in playing personnel that came after an international break, with both sides struggling to find any real rhythm.
Stephan El Shaarawy did look lively early as he attempted to end Roma’s run of dropped points on the road, having drawn each of their last two away fixtures, and had two attempts, one of which was saved and the other which ended up narrowly off target.
The home side did enjoy a decent spell midway through the half and when De Paul picked out Ignacio Pussetto for a free header, the Argentine really should have tested Antonio Mirante.
At the other end, Patrik Schick did have a similar unchallenged header and although he managed to hit the target, it made for a comfortable save for Juan Musso, who was called into action again shortly before the break to keep it level by beating away a dangerous Aleksandar Kolarov free-kick.
Lorenzo Pellegrini did have what appeared to be a credible penalty claim turned away at the start of the second half, which was followed by a blistering Kolarov drive which whistled wide as the visitors began to warm to their task, shooting into a particularly boisterous away end.
However, they were silenced just moments later when De Paul wriggled free of the challenges of Davide Santon and Juan Jesus too easily before bursting into the box and ruining Mirante’s hopes of a debut clean sheet by prodding the ball home.
On 62 minutes, they appeared to have a second when De Paul picked out Pussetto with a sublime chip and he took the ball down before clipping over Mirante for a second, only for VAR to then rule the goal out for the use of an arm in controlling the pass.
Despite a few pulse-raising moments towards the end, the real Roma onslaught never truly came and Udinese held firm for their first home victory over the Lupi in seven years.
OVER RELIANCE ON RODRIGO
Who cares? That’s what fans of the Zebrette will likely say after he did the business for them once again. But it is perhaps worrying just how much they rely on the former Valencia man. With Saturday’s winner, he has now been directly involved in a staggering 75% of his side’s goals, scoring or assisting nine of their 12 in Serie A, meaning no other club in Europe’s top five leagues depends so badly on one man as a source of inspiration.
DEFENSIVE ALARM BELLS
There was no Alessandro Florenzi or Kostas Manolas for Roma and the men who replaced them, Santon and Juan Jesus, flattered to deceive yet again. If they couldn’t deliver in what on paper appeared to be an easier fixture, it will leave Eusebio Di Francesco with real problems when he looks to rotate at the back in future.
