The clash of two Italian coaches in the Europa League makes for a truly tantalising prospect. Giancarlo Rinaldi looks at the contrasting routes Daniele De Rossi and Roberto De Zerbi have taken to this mouthwatering showdown.
The last time they met in Europe was on a December night in Romania. Roberto De Zerbi was in the twilight of a career which had taken him across much of Italy and meandered its way to playing for Cluj. For his part, Daniele De Rossi was in the very heart of his best part of two decades with Roma. No prizes for guessing that the draw which unfolded saw the Giallorossi progress.
It says much of their respective careers on the pitch that their paths only properly crossed across those two Champions League group games. The Brighton boss was part of a Napoli side which shared a thrilling 4-4 draw at the Stadio Olimpico in 2007 but he never saw any action. While De Zerbi was no more than a spectator from the bench, De Rossi was in the thick of the action and grabbed one of the goals.
Even when the gifted attacking midfielder moved to the coaching role he seemed born for, he struggled to put one over on his opposite number. In games where the former Roma skipper played, he could only watch his Palermo and Benevento sides take a bit of a thumping. So far, so one-sided.
In terms of their playing reputation, of course, it will surprise nobody that De Rossi far outshines his opposite number in England. To be fair, you could say that of many footballers. The king of the Italian capital won a couple of Italian Cups and a Supercup for his hometown club but his crowning glory was a World Cup with his country. De Zerbi’s only honours came during his short spell in Romania.
De Rossi: Roma ‘didn’t want Brighton’ as ‘De Zerbi is a genius’
However, as anyone will tell you, what you did on the pitch counts for little as a coach and it is often those with more journeyman careers who end up being better tacticians. Almost as soon as he had hung up his boots, the former Foggia, Arezzo and Avellino player quickly revealed himself to be an astute analyst of the game. By the time he got to Sassuolo and Shakhtar Donetsk, he was considered a rising star and a great innovator of the game. It was only a matter of time before he started ruffling feathers in the English Premier League.
There have been highs and lows – for sure – but the overall feeling is that De Zerbi is one of the hottest properties in the coaching world. Little wonder that he is being touted as a potential replacement for the man widely considered to be one of the best in the business – Pep Guardiola – if he departs Manchester City. His approach to matches has been widely studied by his rivals.
Indeed, in the coaching game, De Rossi is very much the student to De Zerbi’s master. In a recent interview, he thanked the Brighton boss for being so open and helpful to him as he took his first steps in management. In fact, the man currently leading the Seagulls was one of the first on the phone when his counterpart’s spell in charge of Spal in Serie B came to an abrupt end after just a few months at the helm.
That relationship has only been cemented further by the fact that their daughters are now good friends. As De Rossi recently revealed, they regularly meet up in London to watch Roma games together and support the capital club. De Zerbi will surely be hoping his child puts that to one side when the Giallorossi face his Brighton side over two legs.
Picture: When De Rossi and De Zerbi met Guardiola for dinner
De Rossi has made no secret of his admiration of his opposite number. When asked about how he would define his vision of football, he said that only a few people deserved to have anything described as “their football”. Among the names he mentioned as true innovators of the game was none other than De Zerbi.
Of course, that does not mean that he will not be hoping to put one over on his friend and adversary. They share an attacking vision of the game and the transformation that has been delivered at Roma has been a pretty impressive one. Yes, he has had a relatively softer run of games than the ones which brought José Mourinho’s time in charge to an end but something more fundamental has been going on. The new man has started to dismantle the “nobody likes us we don’t care” philosophy instilled by his predecessor and reduced the orchestrated protests to the referee to a minimum. Whisper it, but he has almost made his team good fun to watch.
That, in fact, is what makes this coaching clash such an exciting one. Two young managers – De Zerbi is 44 and De Rossi just 40 – will be going head to head and they both like to see their teams take the initiative and look to win matches, rather than defending a 0-0. That can backfire, of course, but it should make for a thrilling clash for the neutral. They might have travelled by very different roads to get here but they share very similar philosophies. Long gone are the old shadows of Catenaccio which used to be cast over Italian coaches – this promises to be one of the best encounters on a packed midweek of football. So plate up your best antipasti, get the Moka coffee maker on the stove and crack open your finest Chianti. Roma versus Brighton should deliver the very best tactical innovation that the Bel Paese has to offer. All we need to do is sit back, relax and enjoy the show.
Twitter: @ginkers