Fenerbahce 1-1 Roma: Cristante is not enough, and the home manager resigns in the press room
Roma go ahead through Cristante on 39 minutes and are pegged back by Archie Brown on 48. They had 58% of the ball but fewer shots and fewer chances: a point rescued rather than two dropped. And afterwards Ismail Kartal announced his resignation, while the president said he stays.
Roma drew 1-1 away at Fenerbahce on the opening matchday of the Champions League. They led through Cristante on 39 minutes, were pegged back by Archie Brown three minutes after the interval, and took home a point that the underlying numbers make look more valuable than the scoreline suggests.
How it went
A first half the visitors controlled on the ball but without much at the end of it, until Cristante found the net on 39 and sent Roma in ahead. The second half opened in the worst possible way: on 48 minutes Archie Brown, the left-back, got into the box and levelled. From there the game turned scrappy, with four home players booked and two visitors.
On 68 minutes the referee pointed to the spot for a challenge on Dybala, then VAR called him over and the decision was changed to a free-kick on the edge: the foul was outside the area.
The numbers say something other than the possession does
Roma had the ball 58% of the time and completed 554 passes to 368. But the chances belonged to the hosts: 11 shots to 8, 5 on target to 3, three big chances to one, and an expected-goals figure of 1.57 against 0.48.
Put plainly: Roma ran the game, the hosts ran the match. Svilar made four saves, the home goalkeeper two. A point rescued rather than two dropped.
One more number explains the temperature: 19 fouls by Roma against 12, yet four yellow cards for the hosts and two for the visitors.
Our call
On this game our call was over 1.5 goals, confidence 7 out of 10, and the game delivered it: 1-1 means two goals, and that was the right read. Across the whole opening round of the Champions League the tally is sixteen correct calls out of eighteen, with the two misses left written where they are.
The press conference afterwards
The loudest news of the night did not come from the pitch. İsmail Kartal, the home manager, announced his resignation in front of reporters immediately after the match, saying he wanted to step aside for the good of the club.
Shortly afterwards, however, president Aziz Yıldırım stated publicly that the manager is staying in his job. As of this morning the club had issued no statement and the Turkish press accounts do not agree with one another. So, as things stand: the resignation was announced, and there is no record of it being accepted. Anyone writing that the matter is settled, either way, is going beyond the facts.
The starting line-ups
The hosts set up in a 4-3-3: Ederson; Müldür, Škriniar, Aké, Archie Brown; Kanté, Yüksek, Elmaz; Greenwood, Muriqi, Aktürkoğlu.
Roma answered with a 3-4-2-1: Svilar; Mancini, Ndicka, Hermoso; Rensch, Koné, Cristante, Wesley; Dybala, Soulé; Malen. Koné came off on 53 minutes, replaced by Pisilli.
What comes next
Roma are back out on Monday 14 September at 18:30 away to Torino, top of their league on nine points from nine. On that game our call is for the away side to score, confidence 7 out of 10.
The other games with our reads are on the Champions League and on the Serie A page. The record of settled calls is in the results history, and the individual ones are in player predictions.
