Carles Perez and Marash Kumbulla got the goals as Jose Mourinho’s Roma beat newly-promoted Serie B side Ternana 2-0, with Edin Dzeko back in the captain’s armband.
The Giallorossi had swept local team Montecatini aside 10-0 in their first pre-season friendly, but had tougher competition this evening.
Mourinho set his men out with a 4-2-3-1 formation, using Perez, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Nicola Zalewski behind centre-forward Dzeko.
Perez opened the scoring 10 minutes into the match, then after the entire line-up was transformed after the break, defender Kumbulla completed the 2-0 victory at the 53rd minute.
Gianluca Mancini wore the captain’s armband in the first half, with Dzeko taking it in the second.
It’s a change of tack after previous Roma coach Paulo Fonseca had dropped Dzeko and removed the captaincy from the veteran striker in January.
Lorenzo Pellegrini, Jordan Veretout and Riccardo Calafiori were still out of action, but Rick Karsdorp, Stephan El Shaarawy and Dzeko made their first appearances of the pre-season.
Roma: Fuzato; Karsdorp, Mancini, Smalling, Feratovic; Bove, Villar; Carles Perez, Mkhitaryan, Zalewski; Dzeko
FT | Roma 2-0 Ternana
A second training game of pre-season ends at Trigoria. Carles Perez and Marash Kumbulla with the goals for the Giallorossi!
#ASRoma pic.twitter.com/EmO4QG9f5y— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) July 18, 2021