Jordan Veretout converted a penalty and scored a classic counter, as Roma lead Juventus 2-1 at the break, with Cristiano Ronaldo’s spot-kick the only real threat.
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Up until a few days ago, Dzeko didn’t know which shirt he’d be wearing in this fixture, but Juve ultimately went for Alvaro Morata instead due to the failed Arkadiusz Milik transfer from Napoli. It was a chaotic week, as Roma also saw their 0-0 draw with Verona turned into a 3-0 defeat for irregularly fielding Amadou Diawara.
The Bianconeri made one change from the side that beat Sampdoria 3-0, Morata straight into the starting XI for Gianluca Frabotta, but the tactics were again very fluid with Dejan Kulusevski moved to the right and Juan Cuadrado on the left. Matthijs de Ligt, Alex Sandro and Federico Bernardeschi were still injured, Paulo Dybala not fully fit.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan had the first chance after 12 minutes, bursting forward on the counter, skipping past Leonardo Bonucci to test Wojciech Szczesny one-on-one.
Juve slowly built up the pressure with a series of corners, but Danilo was offside when his header was tipped over the bar by Antonio Morante.
Dzeko was furious when he was running on goal and went down while tussling with Giorgio Chiellini, but the free kick was correctly given against him, as it was the Bosnian who had a fistful of jersey.
Moments later, Roma were awarded a penalty, as Adrien Rabiot blocked the Jordan Veretout shot by sticking up an arm and fist, not even protesting the inevitable decision. Veretout converted it himself, although it squirmed under Szczesny’s arm and in off the post, in a stroke of luck for the Giallorossi.
Gianluca Mancini and Aaron Ramsey both went for the Ronaldo cross, nodding it just wide of the near post from point-blank range.
Juve were also awarded a penalty for an obvious handball, as Lorenzo Pellegrini left his arm dangling to intercept the ball when Ronaldo ran into the box. CR7 converted it himself, sending Antonio Mirante the wrong way to side-foot into the corner.
However, the Bianconeri were caught napping in stoppages and went behind again to a classic counter-attack. Mkhitaryan sprinted down the left on an inspired Dzeko pass, rolled it across for Veretout, who took a touch to get past Cuadrado and beat on-rushing Szczesny.
Roma 2-1 Juventus (Half-Time)
Veretout pen 32, 45+2 (R), Ronaldo pen 44 (J)
Roma: Mirante; Mancini, Ibanez, Kumbulla; Santon, Veretout, Pellegrini, Spinazzola; Mkhitaryan, Pedro; Dzeko
Juventus: Szczesny; Danilo, Bonucci, Chiellini; Kulusevski, McKennie, Rabiot, Cuadrado; Ramsey; Cristiano Ronaldo, Morata
Ref: Di Bello
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