Daniele De Rossi debut at Roma gets them back to winning ways after Jose Mourinho got sacked
Shop quality jerseys at Goal90.shop
Daniele De Rossi debut at Roma could not have gone any better. They were able to secure all three points under their new manager, beating Verona 2-1 with goals from Romelu Lukaku and Lorenzo Pellegrini. This win enabled them to rise to eighth in the league with hopes of qualifying for the Europa League still in the air. Verona on the other hand remains in the relegation zone.
De Rossi was tasked with getting the team back on track following the sacking of Jose Mourinho and was given a contract until the end of the season. If he can keep up the wins, his chances of staying on longer may very well improve as well.
What happened with Mourinho
The special one led the team to a trophy in his maiden season, winning the inaugural Uefa Conference League during the 2021/22 season. This continued his streak of winning trophies with every club he has managed, the only exception being Tottenham who sacked him before a major final. In his second season, he led them to the Europa League final where they lost to serial winners Sevilla.
The current season saw the Giallorossi go in the opposite direction as they had a terrible start to the season dropping as low as ninth. A Coppa Italia exit at the hands of arch-rivals Lazio and a league loss to AC Milan were the final straw as they sacked Mourinho immediately afterward.
Who is Daniele De Rossi ?
See: 8 Times Jose Mourinho Accurately Predicted The Future
Born and raised in Rome, he graduated from the Roma Academy in 2000 as a teenager and would spend 18 years of his career playing in the Italian capital. He ranks second in the appearance record for the Giallorossi with 616 and scored 63 goals.
At club level, he won the Coppa Italia twice and the Supercoppa once. He had a much more successful international career as he played 117 games for the Italian national side, representing them in eight major competitions. In 2006 he was part of the team that won the World Cup alongside club teammates Francesco Totti and Simone Perotta.
After retiring from football in 2020 he would end up joining Roberto Mancini’s coaching staff in the national side where he lifted the European championship in 2021 at Wembley. He would then take over as manager of Serie B side SPAL but was dismissed a few months later after a dreadful spell.
He had stated earlier in his coaching career that he wanted to coach Roma only after having significant experience but decided the opportunity was one he couldn’t say no to.
“You don’t say no to Roma,” De Rossi said during his presentation. “It’s a little like what happened to (Andrea) Pirlo with Juventus,”
De Rossi said, recalling how his former Italy teammate was put in charge of the Bianconeri four years ago without any coaching experience.
“There are men who refuse and there are men who throw themselves in.”
Daniele De Rossi debut at Roma
The former Roma midfielder spoke on his team’s performance after the game and seemed to take a slight dig at the former manager.
He said, “I really liked the first half, but if you do the same moves without the right pace, without moving the ball quickly, and without remembering why you are doing it, then you are going to struggle.
“I believe you should control the ball and therefore dominate the game, it is one of the first things we worked on. However, if we do it quickly to get away from the opposition press, then it has meaning.”
It looks like he had quite a few things to work on before his debut as manager.
What next for Roma?
Roma are now set to play a friendly against Saudi side Al-Shabab before getting back to business in the Serie A against Salernitana on January 29th.
