SALERNITANA

2021-22 league position: 17th
Head coach: Davide Nicola
2021-22 Serie A top scorer: Federico Bonazzoli (10)

LATEST NEWS

Salernitana stayed up by the skin of their teeth in 2021-22, and their 4-0 loss at home to Udinese on the final day probably should have been the final nail in their coffin - but Cagliari’s stalemate at Venezia proved their salvation.

They now enter their first full season under Nicola with a clean slate and, although a 2-0 loss to Parma in the first round of the Coppa Italia wasn’t the start they would have hoped for in 2022-23, Il Granata have recruited heavily this summer in a bid to compete further up the table.

The Giallorossi haven’t been shy of new arrivals either and Matchday 1 of the new campaign may give the club's supporters a tantalising first glimpse of Zeki Celik, Paulo Dybala, Nemanja Matic and Georginio Wijnaldum.

All four are in contention to start, while fellow new boy Mike Svilar will most likely have to settle for a place on the bench as he settles in as Rui Patricio’s understudy.

Possible Salernitana line-up

(3-5-2)

Sepe; Pirola, Gyomber, Fazio; Sambia, Coulibaly, Capezzi, Kastanos, Sy; Botheim, Ribery

LAST MEETING

DANGER MAN
Erik Botheim

Roma fans need no introduction to Botheim, the 22-year-old Norway international who proved a right royal nuisance to the club in the Europa Conference League last term.

Botheim scored twice and laid on three assists in Bodo/Glimt’s 6-1 destruction of Jose Mourinho’s side in October last year and scored in the Group C return - a 2-2 draw - at the Stadio Olimpico a month later.

He wasn’t part of the side that Roma dispatched in the knockouts on route to lifting the trophy, however, having moved to Krasnodar in January 2022.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine freed Botheim from his contract with Krasnodar and Salernitana moved quickly to snap up a highly-talented striker who Roma’s defence will be particularly motivated against considering his performances against the team last term.

MATCH STATS

Salernitana have lost more Serie A matches against Roma in Serie A than against any other side (five) and their sole victory over the Giallorossi came in January 1999.

The Matchday 1 hosts have never drawn a top-flight season opener, while these two have met once previously on the opening weekend of a league campaign - a game Roma won at the start of Serie A’s 1998-99 edition.

Having won their final away match in Serie A in 2021-22 - a 3-0 victory at Torino - Roma could straddle the two seasons with consecutive away wins, which would be their first back-to-back league victories on their travels since August 2020.

Mourinho’s teams remain unbeaten on MD1 of Serie A seasons; counting Inter's two draws against Sampdoria in 2008 and Bari in 2009, and Roma’s win over Fiorentina in 2021.

PLAYER STATS

• Botheim was the youngest player to score 10+ goals in the Norwegian Eliteserien last season (15 goals in 30 appearances).
  
• Salernitana are one of three sides, along with Genoa and Udinese, against which Dybala scored two goals in 2021-22.
  
• Since the 2015-16 campaign - his first season with Juventus - Dybala has scored more times than any other player from outside the box (25) in Serie A.
  
• Tammy Abraham's first Serie A goal came at Salernitana on 29 August 2021 and only Ciro Immobile scored more Serie A goals (15) than the Englishman (11) away from home last term.

WHAT THEY SAID

“The guys gave everything and I'm extremely happy about this. I was aware that we were going to have some difficulties, but I have full faith in these guys. We have to recover from the many injuries we have and this week we will try to find the best solutions for Sunday.”

- Salernitana coach Davide Nicola after Salernitana's cup loss last weekend