By Anna Italia
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47% Ball Possession AS ROMA and 53% Ball Possession NAPOLI
AS Roma – Napoli 
25′ Miralem Pjanic
Serie A Standing AFTER the game:
AS Roma 2nd position with 56 points and a positive goal difference of +19
Napoli, 6th position with 47 points and a positive goal difference of +10
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | Goals | DIFF | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Roma | 29 | 15 | 11 | 3 | 40:21 | 19 | 56 |
| 6 | Napoli | 29 | 13 | 8 | 8 | 47:37 | 10 | 47 |
A great victory for AS Roma surviving the pressure at the Olimpico Stadium. Roma needed to win this game to reassure the fans while keeping the second position with 56 points a +1 point ahead of Lazio holding the third position with 55 points. Napoli living a bad moment going down from the 5th to the 6th position meaning out of the Europa zone. Roma will have to continue battle to keep the second position because the Scudetto now is almost an impossible dream seeing Juventus with a +14 lead.
Roma opening the score in the 25th minute with midfielder Miralem Pjanic defeating Napoli goalkeeper Mariano Andujar with a right footed shot in the bottom right corner. The assist is by forward Alessandro Florenzi. It’s the 4th goal by Pjanic this season.
Napoli coach Rafael Benitez maybe picking the wrong formation making a turnover leaving among the subs Marek Hamsik, Walter Gargano, Manolo Gabbiadini and Koulibaly. Oh well, I think it was a mistake not to include key midfielder player Hamsik. Benitez brought forward Gabbiani in the 62nd minute replacing Jose Maria Callejon, but not enough time to change the score. For Benitez, maybe the thought is to keep them fresh for the upcoming Europa League quarterfinal game against Wolfsburg….. well….
Here is AS ROMA official starting lineup by coach Rudi Garcia:
AS ROMA (4-3-3): Morgan De Sanctis; Torosidis, Kostas Manolas, Davide Astori, Jose Holebas; Radja Nainggolan, Daniele De Rossi, Miralem Pjanic; Alessandro Florenzi, Juan Iturbe, Adem Ljajic
Here is NAPOLI official starting lineup by coach Rafael Benitez:
NAPOLI (4-2-3-1): Mariano Andujar; Christian Maggio, Raul Albiol, Miguel Britos, Ghoulam; David Lopez, Jorginho; Jose Maria Callejon, Jonathan De Guzman, Dries Mertens; Gonzalo Higuain
Photo asroma.it
Forward Juan Iturbe congratulating midfielder Miralem Pjanic after his goal against Napoli. What a super jump!!!
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Click the video to watch AS ROMA – NAPOLI highlights including the goal by Miralem Pjanic, Serie A Week 29, Saturday 4 April 2015.
Stats AFTER the game. Top scorer for AS ROMA: Forward Adem Ljajic with 8 goals
Top scorer for NAPOLI: Forward Gonzalo Higuain with 13 goals
| AS Roma | Goals | Goals | Napoli |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ljajic, Adem | 8 | 13 | Higuain, Gonzalo |
| Totti, Francesco | 5 | 9 | Callejon |
| Destro, Mattia | 5 | 6 | Zapata, Duvan |
| Pjanic, Miralem | 4 | 5 | Hamsik, Marek |
| Nainggolan, Radja | 3 | 3 | Gabbiadini, Manolo |
Stats. Here are the last 3 games of AS ROMA: 1 win, 2 lost
| 22/03/15 | SA | Cesena – Roma | 0:1 | Round 28 |
| 19/03/15 | UELK | Roma – Fiorentina | 0:3 | Round 1/8 |
| 16/03/15 | SA | Roma – Sampdoria | 0:2 | Round 27 |
Here are the last 3 games of NAPOLI: 2 draws, 1 lost
| 22/03/15 | SA | Napoli – Atalanta | 1:1 | Round 28 |
| 19/03/15 | UELK | Dinamo Moscow – Napoli | 0:0 | Round 1/8 |
| 15/03/15 | SA | Verona – Napoli | 2:0 | Round 27 |
Before the match. Stats in favor of Roma. There are 159 precedents with Roma having 61 wins, 52 draws and Napoli 46 wins.
Photos of the match AS Roma – Napoli courtesy of asroma.it
Players congratulating midfielder Miralem Pjanic after his goal against Napoli to lead at the Olimpico Stadium.
AS Roma bench… subs awaiting for their turn to play at least few minutes
2014 – 2015 Italian Serie A Week 29
AS Roma 1 – 0 Napoli
Saturday 4 April 2015
Olimpico di Roma Stadium
Rome, Italy
12:30
Referee: RIZZOLI
Assistants: NICOLETTI – PADOVAN
Fourth Official: DE LUCA
ADD1: IRRATI
ADD2: GERVASONI
Goal: 25′ Miralem Pjanic (R)
Official formations – lineups:
AS ROMA (4-3-3): Morgan De Sanctis; Torosidis, Kostas Manolas, Davide Astori, Jose Holebas (71′ Yanga-Mbiwa); Radja Nainggolan, Daniele De Rossi, Miralem Pjanic (68′ Paredes); Alessandro Florenzi (79′ Ibarbo), Juan Iturbe, Adem Ljajic
Subs not used: (Lobont, Skorupski, Cole, Spolli, Balzaretti, Pellegrini, Verde, Doumbia).
Coach: Rudi Garcia.
NAPOLI (4-2-3-1): Mariano Andujar; Christian Maggio, Raul Albiol, Miguel Britos, Ghoulam; David Lopez, Jorginho; Jose Maria Callejon (62′ Gabbiadini), Jonathan De Guzman (81′ Insigne), Dries Mertens; Gonzalo Higuain (76’Zapata)
Subs not used: (Rafael, Colombo, Strinic, Henrique, Hamsik, Zuniga, Koulibaly, Gargano, Mesto).
Coach: Rafael Benitez.
Attendance: 34.425
Boooked: De Rossi, Holebas, Albiol, Florenzi andTorosidis
Match Stats
| AS Roma | Goals | Napoli |
| 1 | Goals | 0 |
| 7(2) | Shots (on goal) | 13(5) |
| 18 | Fouls | 10 |
| 2 | Corner kicks | 5 |
| 2 | Offsides | 2 |
| 47% | Ball Possession | 53% |
| 4 | Yellow Cards | 1 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 5 | Saves | 1 |