Mats Hummels had to wait a long time for his first appearance for AS Roma. On the ninth matchday in Florence the time had come and he was substituted on in the second half. The game was already lost, but things got even worse.
He had to wait a long time for his first mission. Mats Hummels moved to AS Roma at the beginning of September and has had a regular place ever since: the reserve bench. On Sunday the time had finally come and the former national player was finally allowed to play for his new club. The debut in Serie A was a disaster.
Hummels watched from the bench in the first half as his team conceded three goals. Only Kouadio Koné scored for the Hummels club shortly before half-time. Even after the restart, things didn’t get any better for Rome. After conceding the fourth goal, Mario Hermoso was shown a yellow-red card.
Coach Ivan Juric reacted and strengthened the defense by substituting Hummels for Paulo Dybala in the 67th minute. Four minutes later, Hummels took center stage for the first time. The 35-year-old headed a corner from Florentine Christian Kouamé into his own goal to make the final score. On his debut on matchday nine, the former defense chief of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund scored an own goal.
“I don’t pay attention to age or CV,” says the Roma coach
Juric recently defended his decision not to let Hummels play a single minute since his move to Italy. “I’ll look at who’s in a better mood and then decide,” said the Croatian. “I don’t pay attention to age or CV. I’m just looking to see who gives me more trust.” Juric only took over the coaching position from the Italian Daniele De Rossi last month – a few days after Hummels’ arrival in Rome.
While Florence climbed to fourth place in the table with national player Robin Gosens, who played 90 minutes against Roma and is back to his old form in Italy, Hummels and his club are stuck in eleventh place in midfield with just ten points from nine games.
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