After the 5-0 successes over Trastevere and 2-0 against Sunderland and Portimonense, the first defeat of these summer friendlies arrives for Roma. In fact, José Mourinho’s team lost 3-2 against a Sporting Lisbon who gave the impression of being at this stage of preparation, a little more run-in than Mourinho’s troop, whose championship starts a week after the Portuguese one. But the test was certainly interesting, because Mourinho played what, broadly speaking and still without Dybala, today an excellent spectator in the stands alongside Tiago Pinto and under president Dan Friedkin, should be the starting line-up. The only exception was the presence of Kumbulla in the three-man defense in place of Smalling, who then, at the beginning of the second half, took the place of the Italian-Albanian. Same goes for Karsdorp, who took over from Celik initially deployed by the coach. Matic, who formed the midfield duo with Cristante (but the two seem too similar) played with the number 8 shirt, further confirmation, if needed, that Dybala took from the Serbian the one with 21. Zaniolo he has been busy, but not always constructively. However, on the pitch, he did not give the impression of being a player who above all wants to leave, and this is a merit.
The game, with some too much nervousness (5 yellow cards, too many for a friendly match), was taken seriously by the two teams right from the start, with a hint of a fight on the pitch when the referee granted a penalty for a phallus by Ibanez. After the discussions Goncalves scored from the spot, but Roma equalized just four minutes later from a corner kick: the last touch came from a Sporting player, Inacio. Who brought him back in the lead in the 8th minute of the second half. Subsequently, Roma made the 2-2 with a good idea from Abraham finalized on the net by captain Pellegrini. But in the end a defensive distraction, and the uncertainty of the twelfth Roma player Svilar, allowed Tabata to score again for Sporting. So 3-2 final and something to review for Mourinho, even in the knowledge that he was the first level opponent faced from the beginning of the preparation
Source: Ansa
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