“Paulo has had one training session with us, yesterday, which was a pretty light session because in the previous two days we pushed the lads who were training quite hard. He’s done some individual sessions in which he’s pushed himself a bit. We’ll see how he looks in training. He’s done very little work with us. Before that wasn’t a problem because he’d only missed a few days, but it’s now been a couple of weeks that he’s been training separately. We’ll assess his condition today and then we’ll think about it.”
Daniele De Rossi said during Saturday’s pre-match press conference that Dybala could be back on the pitch. After Dybala missed Roma’s last two matches, which saw the Giallorossi eliminated from European competition and guaranteed a finish no higher than sixth in the table, Romanisti will be desperate to see La Joya on the pitch for this one.
With Roma now just a point up on Lazio with two matches to play, Romanisti will want all sixth points to guarantee finishing ahead of their city rivals and keeping hope alive of a Champions League birth if Atalanta does Roma a big solid in the Europa League final. Dybala’s availability could play a big part in that.
However, while he has returned to full training, an appearance seems the more likely scenario in Sunday’s match at the Olimpico. In his place, Tommaso Baldanzi is expected to start. Joining him in the attack will be Romelu Lukauku and Stephan El Shaarawy.
Around the rest of the pitch, there shouldn’t be many other positions up for debate. With Leo Spinazzola out, Angeliño will start at left-back. Meanwhile, the center-back pairing will be the preferred duo of Gianluca Mancini and Evan Ndicka. The one place where there seems some debate as to who will start is at right-back, where it could be Zeki Çelik or Rasmus Kristensen.
Closing out the XI will be De Rossi’s preferred midfield trio of Lorenzo Pellegrini, Leandro Paredes, and Bryan Cristante. And Mile Svilar will be between the sticks.
ROMA (4-3-3): Svilar; Çelik, Mancini, Ndicka, Angeliño; Cristante, Paredes, Pellegrini; Baldanzi, Lukaku, El Shaarawy.