Pellegrini does not deserve this much disrespect | OneFootball

The red card for Italy only intensified the festival of hate directed at Lorenzo Pellegrini by Roma and Azzurri fans, but Susy Campanale doesn’t understand this rage.

Italy were comfortably coasting to their third win out of three in the Nations League, leading Belgium 2-0 and looking like scoring more, when Lorenzo Pellegrini made a mistimed lunge and caught Arthur Theate on the ankle. At first a yellow, it was changed to a red following the VAR On-Field Review, leading directly to the eventual 2-2 draw. The fact it was played at the Stadio Olimpico felt extra painful, as he’d already been jeered off the field so many times by his club fans and now was getting it from Azzurri supporters too.

For all his faults, and he certainly has them, I do not understand the sheer hatred that Pellegrini seems to elicit from people. He has highs and lows, with a career that in recent years has been dominated by injury problems, but that could be said of Paulo Dybala and nobody was urging him to move to the Saudi Pro League this summer. Instead, La Joya got treated as a hero for deciding to postpone joining the Retirement League for Unambitious Players.

Pellegrini is prone to the odd rash challenge, but not as much as Leandro Paredes. He was very strangely blamed for the dismissal of Daniele De Rossi, despite the fact one of the biggest shifts in performance level when his old teammate took over from Jose Mourinho was from Pellegrini. Following the change of coach in mid-January, the midfielder scored seven goals and provided three assists in 24 competitive games. If there was anyone truly heartbroken by the decision to sack De Rossi, then it was Pellegrini.

What has Pellegrini done to deserve this?

It is so strange to me that Roma fans choose to single out and attack someone who was born and bred in the Eternal City, came through their youth academy and returned after a spell at Sassuolo allowed him to make his mark in Serie A. Who else should wear the captain’s armband if not him?

Roma traditionally had players who truly represented the fanbase, the likes of Giuseppe Giannini, Francesco Totti, De Rossi and Alessandro Florenzi. Pellegrini fits that bill, so the sheer hatred towards him feels like they are just blaming him for the fact he is not Totti and this club is no longer the one that used to challenge for the Scudetto. It is not his fault that years of mismanagement ran their finances into the ground and they’re still trying to build a squad through a maze of Financial Fair Play parameters.

Before injury ruled him out of the EURO 2020 tournament, he was one of the best players in the Italy squad. His tally of six goals and two assists in 36 senior caps is not too bad, all things considered, such as his ever-changing tactical role. Pellegrini is played wherever he is needed, both for Roma and the Azzurri, whether it’s in midfield, the left wing, a support striker or trequartista. That’s part of the problem, used as an eternal ‘that’ll do’ stopgap to help the team, never a role where he can truly flourish.

If the accusation is that he is mentally weak and struggles to deal with pressure, then how exactly is jeering him constantly and telling him to take off the captain’s armband going to help? These haters almost take a perverse joy in trying to break him down, as if that is in any way going to improve the club or team. It’s counter-productive, it’s cruel and it’s frankly casting aside someone who could be a real asset for Roma and Italy.