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Nainggolan and Pjanic not for sale, insists Pallotta
9 May 2016
Roma president James Pallotta has reiterated that the club's top stars Miralem Pjanic and Radja Nainggolan will not be sold at the end of the season.
The Bosnia and Belgium internationals have developed a fine partnership in Roma's midfield, helping the capital club secure a Champions League return for next season.
Pjanic has been involved in 21 goals this term (10 goals, 11 assists) - more than any other player with the Giallorossi and has reportedly attracted attention from Juventus and Chelsea, who are also thought to be keen on Nainggolan as they begin to prepare for life under three-time Scudetto-winning coach Antonio Conte.
However, after the pair were on the scoresheet in Sunday's 3-0 win over Chievo, Pallotta will not entertain the idea of tearing out the heart of his team.
"I have already said that we will not sell Pjanic and Nainggolan," Pallotta told Gazzetta dello Sport.
"I want to see them continue in the jersey of Roma."
Pjanic himself refused to commit his future to the Stadio Olimpico before the end of the season.
"I have a contract until 2018," he is quoted by Roma's official website.
"You never know in football but I enjoy playing with my team-mates here. We still have the final match of the season to play but nevertheless I'm happy at Roma."
AC Milan v Roma: Manolas targets automatic Champions League qualification
12 May 2016
Kostas Manolas is determined to help Roma close out the Serie A season in style by beating AC Milan and claiming second spot on Saturday.
Luciano Spalletti's men have not lost in the league since the 1-0 defeat to champions Juventus on January 24 and one more win could see them claim automatic Champions League qualification.
The capital club will need a favour from relegated Frosinone, who travel to second-placed Napoli – two points ahead of Roma – for their final game of the season.
"The race for second place is not over yet," Greece international Manolas told Roma Radio.
"Napoli have an easier game than us on Saturday, seeing as we're playing against AC Milan, but you never know in football. We'll give it our best shot and we'll certainly be going to Milan to win.
"It's important that we produce a top performance, as always. Roma is a big club and we always need to be aiming to win our games.
"As I've said, that's what we want on Saturday. We know it'll be tough against AC Milan, especially seeing as they need points to qualify for the Europa League."
Cristian Brocchi's San Siro tenure yielded its second win on Saturday as Carlos Bacca's 40th-minute penalty sealed a 1-0 victory over Bologna.
That left Milan just one point shy of sixth-placed Sassuolo, knowing overtaking them will guarantee a place in Europe's secondary competition.
With a Coppa Italia final to come against a Juve side already in next season's Champions League, a win there would seal qualification.
However, if they do climb above Sassuolo then even a defeat in the Stadio Olimpico showdown would be irrelevant to their continental aspirations, as the Europa League spot assigned to the Coppa would be given to the sixth-placed team.
To add further intrigue to the mix, Eusebio Di Francesco's men are facing Milan's city rivals Inter this weekend.
It is likely to be a tightly contested encounter at San Siro, with four of the last six matches ending in a draw, as was the case with January's reverse fixture, which finished 1-1.
Roma's last win against Milan at San Siro was in 2010, but they have scored in 10 of their last 11 trips against the Rossoneri at the stadium.
Giacomo Bonaventura (thigh) is expected to be named in Milan's squad, while it is a similar story for M'Baye Niang.
Roma fans will hope it is not the last they see of club legend Francesco Totti, whose future remains up in the air after a remarkable 23 years in the first team.
It had been reported that the Italian, who turns 40 this year, would move on at the end of the season, but it is now thought he will commit for the 2016-17 season after issues between he and Spalletti were resolved.
Key Opta Facts:
- AC Milan are winless in their last four home games (D3 L1)
- The Rossoneri have scored more than one goal in only one of their last 12 Serie A fixtures (against Frosinone).
- Roma have scored 44 goals in their last 18 Serie A matches – six more than any other side.
- The Giallorossi have scored the most goals from outside the box in this Serie A season: 18, 15 more than AC Milan.
Juventus v Sampdoria: Padoin sends out warning as champions close stunning campaign
12 May 2016
Juventus forward Simone Padoin has fired a warning to their rivals as the champions bring their Serie A season to an end against Sampdoria on Saturday.
The Old Lady clinched a fifth successive Scudetto after a remarkable run in which they won 25 out of 26 matches, a sequence which ended with a 2-1 reverse to relegated Verona last week.
A win in the Coppa Italia final against AC Milan next week would give Juve a domestic double for the second year running, while they have already begun to lay the groundwork for next season, with head coach Massimiliano Allegri and veterans Gianluigi Buffon and Andrea Barzagli all signing new contracts.
And Padoin, who has been involved in all five of those Serie A title triumphs since 2012, says the strive to improve upon success year on year is what sets his side apart from their competitors.
"After the defeat to Sassuolo in October we looked ourselves in the mirror and realised that we had to fight for the right to be considered Scudetto contenders. From that moment, everything changed," he told the club's website.
"Knowing the club as well as I do now, all I can say is that this success is richly deserved. Everyone at this club wants to win. But however successful our present is, we are always looking to get one step ahead of the game and plan for the future."
While the home side are poised for a party at Juventus Stadium, 2015-16 is a season which Sampdoria will be glad to see the back of.
Just two wins in their last nine and a crushing 3-0 defeat by rivals Genoa last week have left Vincenzo Montella's side in 15th place, just five points off the bottom three ahead of Saturday's game.
Samp sporting director Carlo Osti blasted the defeat as "shameful" and apologised to supporters, some of whom staged a protest against Montella - who has been heavily linked with the Italy job - and owner Massimo Ferrero following a dismal season.
"The fault is totally mine," Montella, who later denied he had asked to be sacked, said after the game. "The coach can take credit that's not due sometimes, and the blame when it wasn't his fault.
"When an entire season isn't up to scratch, there are some errors in the squad, but I think in this match the players did what they could and I am the only one to blame."
Juve, unbeaten in their last five league games with Samp, will likely rest a number of players ahead of the Coppa final. Martin Caceres (Achilles) and Claudio Marchisio (knee) are long-term absentees, while Sami Khedira (calf) is unlikely to be risked.
David Ivan (thigh) is a doubt for the visitors, while Carlos Carbonero and Niklas Moisander are still short of full fitness. Antonio Cassano may also miss out after a reported bust-up with a club official.
Key Opta Stats:
- Sampdoria have won only one of their last eight trips to Juventus' ground in Serie A (D4 L3), in January 2013.
- Juventus have won all of their last 15 Serie A matches on home soil and they have not conceded any goals in their last 10 home games.
- The Bianconeri are only one game away from equalling the record for clean sheets in a single Serie A campaign (22, held by AC Milan in 1993-94 and Juventus in 2013-14).
- Among coaches with 25+ appearances in the current Serie A, only Roberto Stellone (0.84) has averaged a lower points per game rate than Vincenzo Montella (0.96).
- Massimiliano Allegri has averaged a 2.33 points per game rate and a 72 per cent win percentage over the course of his two Serie A campaigns at Juventus, better than Antonio Conte's figures in his first two seasons with the Bianconeri (2.25 points per game, 66 per cent).
Roberto Stellone has left Frosinone by mutual consent in the wake of a campaign that ended with relegation from Serie A.
Stellone was the man behind Frosinone's meteoric rise from the third tier to the top flight, masterminding consecutive promotions in the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons.
He was unable to keep Frosinone among the elite, though, as they return to Serie B having managed just eight wins from 38 games.
The club confirmed Stellone's departure on their official website.
"With the 2015-16 season ended, Frosinone would like to thank Roberto Stellone for the excellent work done in the last four years," the statement read.
"The decision to end the partnership was taken jointly by both parties."
Carpi coach Fabrizio Castori says he has no regrets about the manner in which his side were relegated from Serie A this season.
Carpi defeated Udinese 2-1 on Sunday but it was not enough to keep them in Italy's top-flight following Palermo's 3-2 win at home to Hellas Verona.
Castori said his side did everything in their power to win their final game and said they had no regrets as they went down.
"We have thought about our game. We wanted to win to have no regrets. We took this league head-on," he said.
"We are a genuine team who have done something extraordinary from January onwards.
"After we got back on track the team went back to the form that had won the Serie B."
The relegated side took until October to register their first win of the season and only won twice in 2015, but became a much tougher team to beat in the second half of the campaign.
From the turn of the year, Carpi lost just seven of 21 games, but their early-season form had already done sufficient damage.
Castori said relegation was not fair on his club, but they would have to accept it.
"We must also accept the defeats in football, even when they are not deserved," he said.
"I'm sorry because we could save ourselves without the early-season revolution, I said it before and I repeat now.
"We won 28 points in the second round, which is Europa League form."
