Milan v Roma Women preview: Bavagnoli calls for courage

Roma Women are back in action on Sunday afternoon as they travel to high flying Milan.

Whereas Roma’s form so far this season has been mixed, Milan have only suffered defeat once, and are therefore second in the table.

Roma are six points behind them in sixth place, but are unbeaten in their last four games. To continue that run, they will need to find a way to beat Milan for the first time ever.

It seemed like they were on course to do that in their last meeting back in January. Roma went 2-0 up, but a late collapse saw them lose 3-2.

If anything, it showed they can compete with their opponents – but they need to ensure they do it over the whole 90 minutes.

Both sides have strikers in the top five goalscorers in the league so far this season. Roma’s Paloma Lazaro and Milan’s Valentina Giacinti have both scored six goals, so will be looking to continue their bright starts to the campaign.

Lazaro and Giacinti are not their respective teams’ only goal threat, though. Milan also have English striker Natasha Dowie on five goals from seven games this season, while Roma’s all-time top scorer Annamaria Serturini has started this campaign with four from seven.

Roma have a close to full-strength squad available for the tie. Kaja Erzen remains out after only just testing negative for Covid-19, but hopefully should be back soon. She is the only major absentee other than Giada Greggi, who has a long-term injury.

Ahead of the game, coach Betty Bavagnoli revealed how Roma would approach the challenge.

  

“We have prepared very well for this new challenge,” she said. “It is a really important challenge, in the same way we prepared last week against Fiorentina.

“We are aware that we are going to face a great team. Roma must have a balanced game, but with the same courage as always.”

The game kicks off at 1:30pm UK time. Fans with a Roma TV+ subscription will be able watch it live on that platform.

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