Firey start to Champion round as Valentina Giacinti and company Wreck Fiorentina in Florence #1726

AS Roma 5 Fiorentina 1FT

The Roma ladies continue to close in to that immortality they’ve been after since the beginning of the season. Their first league title very well could be in the very distant future. As Spuga’s Roma has been on a tear this season, with only two defeats in the league. Roma holds an 8-point gap between themselves and Juventus in second place. Roma ended the regular season on high marks as the championship round got started Friday night. The championship round consists of the top five finishers in the league this season. Roma will play Fiorentina, AC. Milan, Inter, Milan, and Juventus twice in an eight-game stretch. They take the point total and will add it on top of what Roma already has. If Roma continues to take care of business while getting a little help along the way, the title will certainly be theirs, prior to Friday’s clash. Roma got through to their third consecutive Copa Italia final after pulling off an improbable comeback against AC Milan. At one point, they were two goals down and managed to turn it around, ending in the 97th minute with new signing Losada winning it. Sending Roma to the final as they will face off against Juventus. In Roma’s first matchup of the championship Round, they head to Florence to take on Fiorentina. Roma has already beaten them twice this season. The two sides squared off on January 29th as Roma were 7–1 winners in their match at the beginning of the season, it was a thrilling 3–2 victory as the Romans won it in the second half. The two sides would unhinge for a third time in Florence, this time hoping to take another big leap forward in their hopes of closing in on the title. AC Milan and Juventus play on the weekend with the possibility of going 11 points clear at the top of the table. The two sides ready to clash as the championship round got underway on a Friday night.

As the proceedings got underway. Roma and Fiorentina kicked off on a cold night in Florence. What we witnessed in the previous meeting was utter domination by Roma. The league leaders were looking to do more of the same to have the best possible start in the championship round, as expected. Roma affected the tempo early. They dominated the ball as they had a very aggressive approach, moving it with the quick-fire attack into the dangerous areas hoping to dictate and orchestrate a fast start. In the 9th minute, Roma came dangerously close to an opener, with a little bit of ball movement from outside the box. Havvi pings a cross into the box to find Andressa Alves the Brazilian got her head to it, but it drifts wide in the end, very close to an opener. Has the pressure only would intensify on the hosts. No more than a minute later aroma cashed in. In the 10th minute, Greggi picks off a poor pass coming from the Florence defense Greggi launches a perfect ball into the box, finding Valentina Giacinti in a dangerous position. Roma’s top score drops the defender right behind her before lathering a strike into the bottom corner as Roma took a 1–0 lead. It would be Valentina’s 15th goal of the season, and she continues to appear to be one of the most critical acquisitions this campaign as she scores against her former side. She spent nine games on loan last season with Fiorentina scoring on three occasions. The very team she put under pressure immediately. Roma continued to show their levels against a side that once again, for the third time this season, is appearing to look overwhelmed. 10 minutes later, a howler from Fiorentina allows Roma to score the easiest goal there ever going to score this season. In the 20th minute, Alves pressures a Fiorentina defender trying to take the ball out. She panics, sending a poor pass back to the keeper. The goalkeeper completely mismanages it as Manuela Giuliano waltzes at the keeper, poking the ball out of her grasp and slicing it into an empty net as Roma take a 2–0 lead inside of 20 minutes.

It would be the 9th goal of the season for arguably the best midfielder in the league. Roma was only getting warmed up. After lathering Fiorentina for seven last time, these two teams met. Roma was already about to breach three inside of the opening half hour. This one, however a stroke of genius. In the 27th minute, swift short passing movement from well outside the box eventually lands in the space of Karina. The defender on loan from Bayern Munich launches an absolutely perfect ball from distance into the box as Valentina pokes her head out, making connection and dinking it over the goalkeeper into the back of the net. As Valentina gets her brace, Roma takes a 3–0 lead. It would be her 16th goal of the season, as she has proven to be an extensive threat. This campaign with another unbelievable goal as Roma has already cooked Fiorentina. Roma continued to dictate and handle themselves against a Fiorentina aside that offered very little resistance. Occasionally they would get the ball and try to make something happen. But Roma’s high line cut off the legs of the attack swallowing. Any sort of creativity that Fiorentina could muster. However, fortunately for Fiorentina, their first-half nightmare came to an end with Roma holding a three-goal lead thanks to a brace from Valentina and Manuel Giuliano taking advantage of a howler.

Roma once again shows why they are on a pathway to winning the league this season. Fiorentina might be the lowest-ring team in the championship Round, but Roma has been cooking teams all season. This being no exception this far, that eight-point lead very easily could turn into 11 if the balls bounce their way. It was a first half completely controlled by the Romans, and they came out swinging in the second half showing no signs of slowing down. In the 46th minute, Alves sends in a corner Lucia connects on the header into Karina. She takes an initial strike that the goalkeeper blocks before sending the rebound into the roof of the net as Roma has made it four. Only the second goal of the season for the Austrian center-back as Roma open up a 4–0 lead.

It was all going one way. However, Fiorentina did manage to at least get a goal back not long after. In the 50th minute, Alexandra Johannsdottir scores at the nearest post driving the strike into the back of the net past Caesar as they minimize the deficit. In the 51st minute Roma looking for an immediate reply. A cross was sent in deep from the wing. The goalkeeper came out to push it clear as Haavi retrieved it trying to drive it home after the initial strike was blocked. Very narrowly missing just a few inches above the post. Roma continued to be in cruise control as they performed how they had been all season. In the 60th minute, it looks like we could potentially see another as Greggi puts forth a brilliant solo run as she grabs the ball from the left side of midfield, driving the ball through multiple purple shirts just outside the box as she tries to curl it into the top corner. The goalkeeper, who has had a horror show, finally steps up, making the save in the corner and what would have been an absolutely outright strike from the youngster. It continued to build up as Roma more or less had already done its job to finish it off. However, they were not done in the 76th minute. Losada hits an absolute dime from midfield, putting through Glionna by herself one-on-one with the keeper as she slides her strike into the bottom corner as she scores her sixth goal of the season. Roma just maintained themselves the rest of the way through Fiorentina had a player sent off as Roma, in their first game of the championship round, bags five in a 5–1 victory as they make a huge statement. Roma is going to be incredibly difficult to catch, especially when they operate at this level. It was an absolute clinic from start to finish as Roma got a perfect start as they close in on the title with seven matches to play.

Roma continues to close down on immortality as They take one step closer to the league title. Only seven matches left this season, with currently an 8-point lead at the top of the league. It is only going to get more difficult from here as Roma handled Fiorentina, the lowest-ranked team, in the championship round. However, it’s worth noting that other than Juventus, Roma has beaten everybody else twice. They also hold a huge lead at the top. In addition to that, AC Milan plays against Juventus this weekend in their previous meeting. Lindsey Thomas scored an equalizer that earned AC Milan a point. If Juventus drops even one point, it’s more or less over. It would be a 10-point lead at the top of the table without any deficiencies from Juventus. For the most part, All the other teams they have faced from this championship around this season have done so most of the time without breaking the sweat. This is the most complete team from top to bottom and the league title continues to be closer and closer to within their grasp. This was a display of pure domination. They are capable of doing this against anyone. This sends a huge message to the pack. They just put extreme pressure on everyone else. When we see this level of attacking masterpiece out of the gates while the Copa Italia semi-final case study shows they also have that knack to battle through adversity and get results. The fixtures will only become more difficult from here, however, prior to the Champions League quarterfinal first leg against Barcelona. They will take on AC Milan at home. We saw today exactly the dangers. They present. Valentina on the double; she has 16 goals this season. The highest goal scorer in a single season the club has ever had. We look at the level that they’ve shown from top to bottom piercing throughout the squad. Extraordinarily consistent defensively and has arguably the most creative midfielder in the league and just added Losada from Manchester City, that adds another component to it. She comes off the bench and gets an assist scores the crucial goal against AC Milan last week as Roma continues to build up their team as they close in on the title. Everyone has done their job and they are so well positioned while they put all the pressure off themselves and shed it off to everyone else. With favorable results, AC Milan and Inter Milan still could be within reach to make the champions league and finish second. Roma being stopped. Depends on Juventus. While Juventus is a bad matchup for Roma, any slip-up all the way through could be handing the title over. There are still another seven matches to go, but with still a huge lead at the top of the table coming off another brilliant performance. The Roma ladies are edging ever closer to immortality and a historic league title. There’s still a lot of work to be done. This is only the beginning, but as long as Roma stay dialed in and performs the way they have all season, it’s going to be difficult for anybody to realistically catch them. All the leverage of the championship round following this dominating victory sits in Rome. They are the team to beat, and there are no signs of slowing down as they seem to get better through each performance. A scary sight to see to the team’s trying to catch them.