Of all Roma’s summer signings – and there were a lot of them – none caught the imagination of the fans quite like Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
That may come as a surprise, given that he’s only in the capital on a one-year loan from Arsenal and hasn’t exactly been setting the Premier League alight recently.
But the Armenian’s Borussia Dortmund days are clearly fresh in the minds of the Giallorossi faithful, who greeted the announcement of his name over the stadium tannoy with loud cheers before kick off.
Paulo Fonseca held his cards close to his chest in the build-up to the game regarding where he would position the attacking midfielder, before handing him a left-wing berth.
The excitement was palpable at the Stadio Olimpico, with every neat touch produced by Mkhitaryan drawing appreciative applause.
The 30-year-old made sure it was a debut to remember when he latched onto Lorenzo Pellegrini’s through ball 22 minutes in before stroking a well-placed finish between Andrea Consigli and his near post.
In an emphatic win for Roma, Mkhitaryan showed some nice glimpses of his ability and several eye-catching combinations without taking a firm hold of the game, which is understandable for someone so new to Fonseca’s side.
That responsibility fell on the shoulders of Pellegrini, who put in a dazzling display in the trequartista role and has a hat-trick of assists to show for it.
Here lies another potential benefit of Mkhitaryan’s arrival – not only does it add a touch of class to Fonseca’s squad, but it sends a message to the likes of Pellegrini, Javier Pastore and Nicolo Zaniolo that if they want to tie down the No.10 role this season, they’re going to have to work for it.
Pellegrini made that chance count on Sunday and now Fonseca has the good kind of head-scratching decision to make when it comes to how he lines up his array of attacking midfielders.
Berardi shines in the darkness
To be quite honest, things couldn’t have gone much worse for Sassuolo in the second half than they did in the first after they went in at the break 4-0 down.
But Roberto De Zerbi’s men showed good character to mount a mini-comeback and, if nothing else, make the scoreline more respectable than it had threatened to be during that horrifying opening 33 minutes.
Skipper Berardi was at the centre of their improvement, leading by example as he stroked a magnificent freekick past Pau Lopez after the break before finishing off a free-flowing move that showed just how easy on the eye Roberto De Zerbi’s teams can be.
The 25-year-old is often criticised for failing to kick on from his stunning early form as a youngster at Sassuolo but he has started the 2019/20 campaign in the same dazzling form he finished the last season in.
Berardi has now scored 10 goals in Serie A since March, a record that only Napoli’s Dries Mertens can better with 11 strikes in the same period. He’s also hit five in two games this season. Are we about to witness a full season of peak Berardi once again?
