Don’t tell Daniele De Rossi that his team played well against Inter. “I’m a footballing son of Luciano Spalletti,” said the Roma manager at the end of Saturday’s 4-2 defeat. “He would never accept compliments after a loss because that’s how you fall into mediocrity.”
Still, we can probably get away with saying it here. For 45 minutes on Saturday, Roma were excellent: standing toe-to-toe with the Serie A leaders like few have all season. The game had barely started when Stephan El Shaarawy forced Yann Sommer into a fingertip save. Inter subsequently took the lead through a Francesco Acerbi header, but goals from Gianluca Mancini and El Shaarawy put Roma in front at the break.
