Roma faces an unexpected goalkeeping crisis ahead of their UEFA Champions League fixture against Manchester United at Old Trafford, as Pierluigi Gollini deals with back pain just hours before kick-off.
Gollini Back Injury Threatens Squad Depth
Gian Piero Gasperini’s team risks losing their backup option as Pierluigi Gollini deals with back pain. Mile Svilar has been named Serie A’s best goalkeeper in the last two seasons. Svilar remains sidelined by a broken finger.
The squad could rely on third-choice option Devis Vásquez or even a fourth-choice keeper.
If Gollini cannot shake off his minor back issue, Vásquez will make his first-ever competitive match for the Giallorossi. Roma reintroduced the Colombian shot-stopper to their Champions League list following Svilar’s October injury after he had initially been left off the European squad.
Gollini Returns to Old Trafford
Pierluigi Gollini spent two years between 2012 and 2014 at Manchester United after arriving from Fiorentina as a teenager. The 31-year-old previously helped lift the under-21 Premier League title alongside Jesse Lingard and Adnan Januzaj under Paul McGuinness and Warren Joyce.
He turned down a contract extension to return to Italy with Hellas Verona in 2014, according to SPORTbible.
I needed to grow and aim to become a first-choice goalkeeper one day,
Pierluigi Gollini
Reflecting on that departure, Gollini noted his belief that the Italian school of goalkeeping is superior. His career subsequently took him to Aston Villa in 2016 and then to Atalanta for the 2017-18 season, where he made over 100 appearances under Gasperini and earned an Italy cap in 2019. After loan stints at Tottenham, Fiorentina, Napoli, and Genoa, he joined the ranks at the Stadio Olimpico.
Gollini built a parallel presence under the stage name Gollorius, releasing a rap single titled Rapper coi guanti
in 2018 with proceeds directed toward renovating a football pitch near his hometown.
Gollini spoke following a recent game against Cagliari.
I obviously haven’t played much in recent years, but I see myself in training, my team-mates see me, so obviously football is a world that moves super fast,
Gollini said. But when you work every day, you know what you’re doing.
And in any case, even if I haven’t played, I’ve always been in a team, in a high-level environment, with great players, so I’ve always known my value,
he added.