Roma seeks to rebound after demoralising defeat, disappointing draw

A discouraged AS Roma squad is set to take on Milan in a Serie A match that will see the capital team welcome a chance to play at home and try to bounce back after the Romans' humiliating Italian Cup quarterfinal defeat to Fiorentina and their disappointing Serie A draw to Atalanta.

The Romans then played their worst cup game of the season on Wednesday with Fiorentina thrashing Roma 7-1 in Florence, reports Efe news.

Now Roma has to find a way to regroup and return to playing their best against Milan amid a dogfight for the fourth spot in the standings which involves five teams separated by only three points: Milan with 35 points, Roma (34) and Sampdoria (33) as well as Lazio and Atalanta, both having 32 points.

A victory against Milan would be important as it would allow Roma to leapfrog to fourth place in Serie A and set the Romans up to - if they keep winning - securing a UEFA Champions League spot next season.

The Serie A top-4 teams at the end of the season qualify for the following season's UEFA Champions League, while the fifth-placed team only earns a Europa League berth and the sixth-placed club progresses to the Europa Cup qualification rounds.

As for Milan, the club appears to be, in some ways, a new squad as the northern Italian team is without Argentina striker Gonzalo Higuain, who joined Chelsea, and is now led by a new striker, Poland forward Krzysztof Piatek, who joined it in January from Genoa for 35 million euro ($40.15 million).

Piatek, 23, will likely be a headache for the Roma defence, having scored twice over a 17-minute stretch at his second game with his new club, which has catapulted Milan to the Italian Cup semifinals on Tuesday at Napoli's expense.

--IANS

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