Four Things We Learned: Villar grasps opportunity to impress

Fantastic way to sign off on Fonseca's first season

Roma ended their season in stirring style by defeating Juventus 3-1, as they extended their unbeaten run to eight games to close out the crusade.

Obtaining their first away win since 2011 against the Old Lady and their first-ever victory at Juventus Stadium, there was much to admire about the exciting, come-from-behind win.

Considering Paulo Fonseca made a host of changes, including handing Daniel Fuzato his first start in goal and giving young Riccardo Calafori his debut, he was justifiably delighted with his team's attitude and performance despite nothing riding on the match in terms of league position.

"I told the guys that a side with ambition has to always play to win – it doesn’t matter what is riding on the game or where the other team is in the table," Fonseca said.

"You have to always fight to win and today we did that, putting in a professional display.

"The team is in good form right now and it wasn’t easy to come away from this one with the result we did. The team was aggressive throughout.”

Villar's vital efforts in midfield

Making just his second start for Roma, and his first since January, Gonzalo Villar slotted into the team seamlessly, performing his midfield duties with assuredness and clarity. Especially stamping his mark on the offensive end, the Spaniard's technical mastery and intelligence saw him shine.

So comfortable on the ball, his Velcro-like ball control and lovely first touch saw him embark on some sharp dribbles and weave out of trouble with ease. So aware of his surroundings due to his head scanning of his blindside, Villar then persistently used smart body feints, fake passes and changes of pace and direction to outfox markers.

In addition, the fact he's so calm with the ball at his feet and resistant to pressure notably meant he could provoke pressing actions from opponents before then finding a free man upfield in the space that had been left behind.

Accompanying the aforementioned traits with his crisp passing, his aptitude in this regard enabled him to connect attacks to progress Roma through the thirds.

Exercising sound judgment, he typically made excellent decisions with his passing, as his range and execution caught the eye. Whether playing passes to the feet of his attackers, combining in tight spaces, breaking the lines or recirculating possession, he had a pass to match the situation he was confronted with.

Keeping things ticking over wonderfully in midfield and showing us his composure on the ball on many occasions, Fonseca was delighted with the youngster's body of work.

“He’s a young player – we can’t forget that just a few months ago he was playing in Spain’s second division," he said.

"He is learning and adapting to Italian football, but we all believe in him and his future at Roma. Today he had a fantastic game; I really liked it. He’s young but he has a lot of courage."

Perotti the difference-maker

Playing a hand in all of Roma's goals by bagging a classy brace and assisting Roma's opener with an accurate corner, Diego Perotti's man of the match showing was integral towards the triumph.

Aside from the above, the way he helped Roma break the Juventus press and cause them many issues with his crafty movement and positional sense was equally impressive. From his central attacking midfield post, the Argentine's slick variations and timing when to drop deep, move into the half spaces, bomb into the channels or rotate with wingback Calafiori saw Juve struggle to combat him.

Moreover, how he drew opponents to create space for Calafiori allowed Roma to use third man runners and strategically situate himself to generate 3v2s and 2v1s down the left only added to this worth.

The fact he supplemented his movement with his imaginative passing and dynamic dribbling compounded issues for the home side, as he proved a menace on all fronts for the champions.

Pressing scheme bears fruit

Despite making many changes of personnel for this clash, there was much to like about how the Giallorossi restricted the Bianconeri offensively for large parts.

Keeping them to only three shots on target and to an Expected Goals reading of just 1.02, they produced a strong collective effort to stifle their adversaries. The high pressing setup certainly played a big part in this, for they did a good job of making life difficult for Maurizio Sarri's men to get into their groove.

To start with, centre forward Nikola Kalinic would press the ball near centre back while angling his press to block the pass lane to Juve holding midfielder Simone Muratore and direct Juve into wider areas. Then, the nearside Roma attacking midfielder would step onto the Juve fullback while the other 10 would initially monitor the far side centre back, as Roma's centre mids then marked two of Juve three mids, leaving the other one to be marked by an out stepping central defender or the backtracking far sided attacking midfielder.

It was also interesting to note when a Roma No. 10 pressed, that they'd look to block the lane back to the holding midfielder by curving their press, thus further minimising the options for the opposing fullback.

Next, the wingbacks typically marked wingers Federico Bernardeschi and Luca Zanimacchia, leaving the central defenders to handle Gonzalo Higuain and help when the wingers drifted infield or, as previously mentioned, aggressively push up to a Juve central midfielder.

Using the touchline as an extra defender and timing their harrying cohesively, they did a super job of frustrating their enemies.

Setting the tone superbly with their intensity in the first half especially, how Roma created chances from their pressing by forcing turnovers and implemented the scheme would have pleased Fonseca to no end.