Roma 3-4 Juve: a magical melodrama with more twists than an HBO series | A series

They did it three times in seven minutes of the second half on Sunday, throwing a 3-1 lead after giving up a 1-0 lead early on. The last goal was scored by Mattia De Sciglio, a 29-year-old winger who had found the net only once before in his professional career, and that was half a decade earlier.

That wasn’t the final plot twist in a game that featured a red card, a penalty, game-changing substitutions, crucial VAR interventions and an injury that could spell long-term disaster for Juventus, but also for Italy’s qualification for the World Cup. All with Francesco Totti making a rare appearance in the stands.

Perhaps, however, we should start at the beginning. Before kick-off we knew that this could be a decisive game in both teams’ seasons. Roma, seventh in the table, had the opportunity to equalize Juventus, who are in fifth place. But the Bianconeri needed a victory to stay close to Atalanta ahead of them.

Expectations were low for Roma after a disappointing performance against a frazzled Milan on Thursday. They had lost 3-1 to opponents who did not have their first-choice central midfield partner, as well as three-quarters of a starting defense.

But José Mourinho changed tactics and walked away from the three-man defense he used at the San Siro to imitate Juventus in a 4-2-3-1. He named Ainsley Maitland-Niles as his right-back, just two days after the player arrived on loan from Arsenal. Bryan Cristante was drafted into midfield and academy graduate Felix Afena-Gyan made a start on the left wing.

Individually, those players didn’t all shine. Juventus’ first goal came when Federico Chiesa forced Maitland-Niles on his heels with a powerful run down the left, before taking Paulo Dybala down the middle. Cristante should have been following the Argentine, but was caught looking at the ball. Dybala had all the time he needed to choose the bottom corner.

The shape-shifting of Rome, however, was effective. Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri was serving a suspension, but his substitute on the bench, Marco Landucci, confessed that the change took them by surprise.

Cristante and Jordan Veretout held midfield, depriving their Juventus counterparts Manuel Locatelli and Rodrigo Bentancur of early possession. Roma won five corners in the first 11 minutes of the game and went ahead of the last of them with a header from Tammy Abraham. They could have had a penalty, and a chance to go up 2-0, when Lorenzo Pellegrini’s shot bounced off Matthijs De Ligt’s boot on his outstretched arm.

Instead, Juventus drew through Dybala. But Roma remained on top. They took the lead with a deflected shot from Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Then Pellegrini, the Roma captain, hit a magnificent free-kick to make it 3-1. Television cameras tracked down his predecessor Totti.

Here was your story: a moment of handing over the baton, the emergence of a new Roma team made possible by the appearance of another local captain. A return of Juventus seemed implausible. Chiesa had exited the game before the break with what immediately appeared to be a serious knee injury and has now been confirmed as a torn cruciate ligament, a hammer blow for the club and the country.

Landucci sent Alvaro Morata for Moise Kean in the 63rd minute. The Spaniard barely saw the ball for the next seven, but then, out of nowhere, conjured a game-changing assist, driving to the right touchline, dragging the ball away from challenge Roger Ibáñez sliding and floating a center for Locatelli to head. House.

Thus, the game was transformed. Dejan Kulusevski fired at Juventus level, nailing his shot to the ground and towards the ceiling of the net after Morata’s initial attempt was blocked. The goal was initially canceled but the VAR confirmed that there was no offside.

Morata then teamed up with Weston McKennie down the left, before the American passed the ball for De Sciglio to run inside. Chris Smalling put his head on the ball but was unable to intercept it. The winger finished at the near post.

Delirium. And a new story: Juventus rescued by Morata, the forward whose future had been in doubt amid reports of interest from Atlético de Madrid.

Only this game wasn’t finished yet. Roma won a penalty in the 81st minute, De Ligt handled the ball inside the area for the second time. The Dutchman, already admonished, received a red card. The cameras turned back to Totti as Pellegrini got closer, but this time we wouldn’t see either of them celebrate. Wojciech Szczęsny, the Juventus goalkeeper who changed his career for three seasons here at Roma, saved a weak penalty shot.

When the full-time whistle finally blew, half the people inside the Olympian seemed to be stunned. Juventus celebrated, but even Landucci joked that he hoped Allegri would “come back soon because I just lost five or six years of my life.”

Throwing such an important game from such a dominant position could only be a hammer blow for Roma. The defeat left them nine points adrift from the Champions League places, and there are more damning stats to find. This is the first time since 1988-89 that the Giallorossi have been defeated at home by Juventus, Milan and Inter in the same season.

A head down Mourinho wanted to portray the subsequent defeat as further proof of the limitations of the squad he had inherited. “My heart hurts because I’m not used to this team profile,” he was quoted in La Repubblica. “I’m here to give the guys a way to improve. But I want the team to follow me to go beyond their limits, not that they should take me to their level ”.

At this point, the question might be whether they have advanced at all. Roma are eight points worse than at the corresponding point last season, despite considerable summer investment. Portuguese midfielder Sérgio Oliveira will join on loan and the club may do more business before the end of this month.

However, there is no new signing who can make up for the missed opportunity to beat Juventus this weekend.