Genoa C.F.C travel to the Stadio Olimpico in Rome for the opening round weekend of Serie A to take on A.S Roma on Sunday evening.  Kick-off is at 8:45 PM local time.

Story behind the game

After last seasons draw with Genoa effectively killed off their UEFA Champions League hopes A.S Roma are hoping to start off the 2019/20 season on the right foot with Sunday's clash.

Roma has endured massive changes again entering this season after last years tumultuous season, one in which saw their sporting director and coach were both dismissed during the year and some important players depart.

Gianluca Petrachi and Paulo Fonseca are both in for their first season with the Giallorossi, and are hoping to steady the ship as there's no longer Francesco Totti and Daniele De Rossi to turn to anymore. 

Initially, they had a rocky start to the summer and having to cancel their pre-season plans to participate in the International Champions Cup in the United States for UEFA Europa Cup qualifications. Roma then found themselves directly qualified after A.C Milan withdrew from the competition. 

They have been somewhat impressive in the friendly games they were able to string together this summer, and their best showing was a penalty shootout win against Real Madrid C.F in the Mable Cup. 

Genoa have themselves gone through somewhat of a revolution this summer after narrowly avoided the drop finishing 17th in the last campaign. They brought in manager Aurelio Andreazzoli after he was relegated with Empoli last season, and a series of impressive signings to bolster the squad. 

The results, however, this pre-season indicate they may be able to separate themselves from the bottom of the pack and finish a little more comfortably come the end of the 19/20 campaign. Wins against Ligue 1 teams Nantes and Bordeaux, as well as beating Imolese 4-1 during last weekends Coppa Italia third-round tie.  

Team news

As has been customary with Roma during recent seasons they will be missing several members of the squad when they host on Sunday.

Newcomer Leonardo Spinazzola will miss out on making their Olimpico debut with the left full-back just suffering a bicep injury in training that may crucially have him miss the derby against Lazio as well.

Diego Perotti has pulled up in the final day of training and will miss the match with a muscle injury.

Jordan Veretout has shaken off an ankle injury that's kept him out of the entirety of Roma's pre-season games since he joined up with the Giallorossi, and is expected to start from the bench.

Patrik Schick is questionable for the game as he's rumoured to be close to a transfer to the Bundesliga, but expect him to be on the bench.

It remains to be seen if Davide Zappacosta will play any part of the game as of yet, as he's just made the loan move from Chelsea earlier in the week.

After suffering an injury to his thigh in the Coppa Italia match newcomer Riccardo Saponara will miss the chance to make his Genoa debut at the weekend.

Stefano Sturaro is also out of the clash as he's still on the mend following his ACL tear in May.

Oscar Hiljemark looks to be out of the match as well as he's close to a transfer to Bordeaux. 

Kevin Agudelo is suspended for the Genovese side as well.

Predicted Line-Ups 

A.S Roma (4-2-3-1): Lopez, Kolarov, Jesus, Fazio, Florenzi, Cristante, Diawara, Kluivert, Zaniolo, Under, Dzeko

Genoa C.F.C (3-5-2): Radu, Romero, Zapata, Biraschi, Ghiglione, Radovanovic, Schone, Lerager, Criscito, Pinamonti, Kouame

Key Clashes

Cristante vs Schone

One is looking to become the new emblem of the squad and the other is slated to make his highly anticipated debut for their new team. How they fair may decide the result of the match. While Bryan Cristante had a mixed bag of a season last year he is now settled, meanwhile  Lasse Schone is new to the league, and Genoa's season may depend on how quickly he adapts. Cristante is now expected to be the ball winner of the Roma team, so if he is able to establish his pressing game early and wins the ball in the attacking phase of the pitch the game will swing in the Giallorossi's favour.

Fazio vs Pinamonte

After what can only be described as a nightmare season for the Argentine, Federico Fazio will be hoping to bounce back in a big way and establish himself as first choice for coach Fonseca this year. Responsible for numerous individual mistakes in 18/19 that cost his side multiple games he'll eager to redeem himself against some young Genoa strikers. One of those strikers coming in for Genoa this season is highly impressive youngster Andrea Pinamonte. Scoring 5 goals and 3 assists last season on a terrible Frosinone squad look for Pinamonte to build on that, and will be interesting to see how he fairs against one of the league's better but vulnerable sides. 

Dzeko vs Romero

While both were subject to transfer rumours all summer, only one of them got the long-expected moves they wanted. Cristian Romero, 21, made his expected move to Juventus FC earlier this summer, but was loaned back to Genoa. He's expected to take the leap in quality in order to impress his parent club, and important test comes in the form of Edin Dzeko. Dzeko, 33, for his part has secured himself a new contract after being linked with Inter Milan all summer, and will be looking to take advantage of the young defender to better his lowly 9 league goals of last season. It will be interesting to see the reaction of the Olimpico since he has renewed his contract.

What the Managers Have Said

Paulo Fonseca (A.S Roma):

“I've already had my first taste of the Olimpico and this will be my first competitive game here. I feel motivated, excited and confident. We'll be playing in front of our fans and they'll be behind us. It's the ideal set-up to begin the season.”

“Winning is not enough for me – I want my team to be in control of proceedings, keep the ball and play attacking football. I won't budge on that. Knowing what Italian football is like, I know my team will play that sort of football in the majority of games and we must be ready to halt our opponents' counter-attacks. I want us to boss games and play close to the opposition goal. We'll do that most of the time, except when our opponents force us to defend more, but I believe the best way to defend is to keep hold of the ball.”​​​​​​​

Aurelio Andreazzoli​​​​​​​ (Genoa C.F.C):

“Roma’s merits are well-known. You can already see Fonseca’s stamp on the team. We’re not putting pressure on ourselves – last season Genoa didn’t do well against Roma so we’ll try to express ourselves better. From the first day I got here, I always said it doesn’t matter what I say, only the facts on the pitch matter. Physically we’re good, we’ve improved our condition but we still got to take care of the details. At this point in the year, no team is completely ready. I am convinced, though, that was can do well this year”.​​​​​​​

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