Roma rely on Daniele De Rossi, Mattia Destro, Pablo Daniel Osvaldo and Nico Lopez for tonight’s Coppa Italia clash with Atalanta” data-scaytid=”7″>Atalanta.
Roma rely on Daniele De Rossi, Mattia Destro, Pablo Daniel Osvaldo and Nico Lopez for tonight’s Coppa Italia clash with Atalanta.
The Fifth Round opens this evening at 20.00 GMT when the Giallorossi welcome the Bergamo-based club to the Stadio Olimpico.
Zdenek Zeman is taking the tournament very seriously indeed, as he fields almost a full-strength squad.
Francesco Totti is rested, though could come off the bench, but Osvaldo and Destro start with young striker Lopez.
De Rossi is thrown back into the starting XI for the first time since the Rome Derby, as Zeman surprisingly benched him for Saturday’s 4-2 win over Fiorentina” data-scaytid=”21″>Fiorentina.
Erik Lamela is suspended and still nursing an injury too, but Maarten Stekelenburg returns to the goalmouth with 17-year-old defender Alessio Romagnoli given a chance.
Atalanta pushed past Cesena in the last round and field a surprisingly first choice line-up with German Denis and Maxi Moralez.
Giacomo Bonaventura, Guido Marilungo and Daniele Capelli are injured, but defender Guglielmo Stendardo is missing so he can sit an exam in his law degree.
Atalanta confirmed they were not at all happy with his decision to sit the exam on a match day and there are reports he ‘abandoned’ the training camp in order to be there.
Roma: Stekelenburg; Piris, Romagnoli, Burdisso, Balzaretti; Bradley, De Rossi, Pjanic; Destro, Osvaldo, Lopez
Roma bench: Goicoechea, Lobont, Castan, Dodò, Marquinhos, Marquinho, Tachtsidis, Florenzi, Perrotta, Totti
Atalanta: Consigli; Raimondi, Lucchini, Matheu, Brivio; Schelotto, Cigarini, Cazzola, Moralez; Carmona, Denis
Atalanta bench: Frezzolini, Polito, Manfredini, Bellini, Radovanovic, Troisi, Scozzarella, Ferri, Ferreira Pinto, Biondini, De Luca, Parra