Roma have treated the visit of Inter as a defining occasion, with Gian Piero Gasperini keeping his squad together overnight at Trigoria rather than sending the players home after their final training session.
The group remained at the Fulvio Bernardini centre following Friday’s work, sharing dinner and spending the evening together before breakfast and a final morning session on matchday. Roma do not routinely hold such pre-match retreats for home fixtures, but the club have chosen a more concentrated preparation for a contest carrying major weight in the season.
Gasperini is expected to use the final run-out to settle his starting line-up. His selections have remained open in a few areas, although Roma appear set to approach Inter with intent rather than caution.
Defensive decision and the wing-back battle
The main uncertainty at the back concerns the place of Leonardo Balerdi. Gasperini has compared the defender to Franco Baresi, yet Balerdi could still begin among the substitutes as the coach considers the value of changing defenders during a match.
Gasperini has stressed that teams increasingly introduce fresh forwards as games develop, making defensive substitutions an important resource even when a centre-back is performing well.
Gianluca Mancini, Evan Ndicka and Mario Hermoso are the likely initial back three. Hermoso has recovered from the ankle knock he sustained on Wednesday and is in contention to start.
On the right, Lulli’s acceleration has made a stronger case than Molina’s. Wesley, absent in Turin because of a minor physical issue, should return to the first eleven and is likely to take up the role on the left flank.
Dybala’s return to full rhythm
Roma’s encouraging run has also been shaped by Paulo Dybala’s condition. At 32, the Argentine has reached a level of fitness that has ended the previous need to manage his minutes conservatively, and he is poised for a sixth straight start in less than a month.
Gasperini had believed that an appropriate training programme could extend Dybala’s career at a high level. The forward is still cautious when striking the ball with maximum force, having recently suffered problems while taking both a free-kick and a penalty, but his creative influence has been clear.
Dybala has supplied four official assists, rather than five, after the league did not award him the final pass for Malen’s goal. Goals may follow as his confidence in shooting returns; for now, his link play has become central to Roma’s attacking momentum.
Matias Soulé is ahead of Mora for the attacking midfield position behind Dybala and Malen. That would point towards a 3-4-1-2, with Malen leading the line and Dybala operating close to him.
Roma resist a conservative route
Manu Koné and Bryan Cristante are expected to retain their midfield places despite the progress made by Niccolò Pisilli and Marten de Roon. Gasperini views his squad as containing “20 starters”, a principle that should ensure opportunities across the campaign even when certain players are left out for a major match.
Pisilli is therefore unlikely to be used in a more restrained attacking-midfield set-up against Inter. Roma arrive with confidence and intend to put their attacking options on the pitch, rather than build the evening around containment.
