Colombo to referee Napoli v Roma, Aureliano on VAR

Napoli coach Massimiliano Allegri has recovered midfielder Vergara ahead of Saturday's clash with Roma, with the player set to be named in the squad for the match at the Maradona. Vergara had suffered a medium-grade strain of the right soleus while on Italy duty, but he has returned to partial group training today. Napoli will be without Alisson Santos and Neres, as well as Buongiorno and Favasuli. Roma face a difficult selection problem of their own. Gian Piero Gasperini will have to do without Koné, Svilar, Dybala and Pellegrini. Cristante returns to availability for the Roma boss. The fixture is a significant test for both sides, with Napoli looking to strengthen their position against a Roma side who will be missing several key players.

Roma's Serie A Matchday 8 fixture against Napoli, managed by Antonio Allegri, will be refereed by Colombo of the Como section, with the match kicking off Saturday at 18:00 at Napoli's home ground. Roma travel to the Diego Armando Maradona...

Andrea Colombo of the Como section will referee the Napoli v Roma match at the Maradona on Saturday at 18:00, the big fixture of Serie A's eighth matchday. He will be assisted by Bindoni and Rossi, with Sacchi as fourth official. Aureliano will be the VAR, with Meraviglia as AVAR. Colombo, a Lombard referee, has overseen Roma 11 times, with a record of 5 wins, 5 draws and just 1 defeat. Their most recent meeting was a home game against Atalanta on 5 September, which Roma won 2-1 from behind, with goals from Hermoso and Soulé late on. Last season, Roma drew 2-2 away at Napoli, with Malen scoring twice, but the more controversial game was a defeat at Genoa. In that match, Colombo denied Roma a clear penalty for a handball by Malinovskyi on Koné's shot. The record is also positive for Napoli, who have won 7, drawn 1 and lost 3 of their 11 meetings with the Lombard referee. One of those defeats came in December 2023, when Roma beat Napoli 2-0 at the Olimpico, with goals from Pellegrini and Lukaku. Colombo's appointment is the key talking point ahead of a fixture that has historically been tight, with both sides having strong records under him. Roma will be keen to put the Genoa controversy behind them and turn their recent results into a strong performance at the Maradona.

Gian Piero Gasperini is struggling for attacking options with five matches coming up, and Roma have only two fit senior forwards available, Rodrigo Mora and Soulé. Lorenzo Pellegrini was injured on 20 October and will be out for at least twenty days, so he will not return until after the mid-November international break. Gasperini admitted the problem bluntly: "Every match I lose a player, we are short in attack." The coach is hoping to have Paulo Dybala back for the last two games, against United and Sassuolo, but in the meantime he must find alternatives. One option is to push either Niccolò Pisilli or Bryan Cristante into the attacking midfield line and ask Marten de Roon for an extra effort, especially with Manu Koné also injured. The article notes that Roma have used this approach in some matches last season. Gasperini is also considering a double striker pairing of Donyell Malen and Santiago Castro, with either Mora or Soulé behind them. He also has younger players to call on, with Camara, Antonio Arena and Paratici mentioned first. The shortage makes a January transfer market move even more necessary. The alarm was first raised in September, when Roma lost Leweling and Luiz Henrique at the final moment of their pursuit.

Roma's Primavera side beat Slovan Bratislava 5-0 at the Tre Fontane in the third matchday of the UEFA Youth League, bouncing back immediately from their league defeat to Torino. Paratici scored a hat-trick in the second half, with Arena providing two assists before scoring the final goal himself. Coach Mattia Scala's side dominated the game from the start, although Slovan initially managed to contain the Giallorossi pressure. The opening goal came in the 35th minute. Arena sent Camara through on the counter-attack, and Camara opened his body and finished past Gramblička to make it 1-0 at half-time. The match changed completely after the restart with the introduction of Paratici, who came on in the 56th minute in place of Camara. He needed just five minutes to make his mark, as Arena played him through again and he took the ball into the area and beat the Slovak goalkeeper. Slovan collapsed in the closing stages and Roma ran riot. In the 79th minute Paratici was quickest to react to a loose ball in the area after a shot from Terlizzi and made it 3-0. Six minutes later, from a corner taken by Cama, the young striker rose alone and completed his personal hat-trick. In the 87th minute Arena added the definitive 5-0, having already been involved with two assists, completing a practically perfect afternoon for Scala's team. The result was a wide and convincing victory, built once again through the academy players of the Giallorossi youth sector. Sporting director Tony D'Amico, CEO John Galantic and youth sector manager Massimo Margiotta were in the stands, and Paratici, Arena and their team-mates sent an important message to the first team as well, at a time when Gasperini continues to open the doors wider to the young players of Trigoria.

Roma's Youth League side beat Slovan Bratislava convincingly at the Tre Fontane before the first-team fixture against the same opponents later on Monday evening. Camara opened the scoring in the 35th minute, and after the break Lorenzo Paratici, who came on during the game, scored a hat-trick that decided the match. Arena completed the win with a goal in the closing minutes. The result was Scala's Primavera side's second victory in three matches, following an opening win over Fenerbahce and a narrow defeat to Real Madrid. The win came with several senior Roma figures in attendance. CEO John Galantic and sporting director Tony D'Amico were in the stands at the Tre Fontane, alongside Margiotta, the club's youth sector manager, and Frara, the club's Loan Manager. The Youth League match is played before the senior fixture as usual, and the Primavera result gives the club's young players a timely boost. The presence of the CEO and sporting director underlines the club's interest in the development of its academy squad.