Champion and gregarious, together. Technique and service stroke from one of the most underrated players in Serie A. Stephan El Shaarawy32 years old in October, has reached a technical, physical and mental maturity that makes him an essential man in the new Rome by Daniele De Rossi. In the first leg of the quarter-finals of the Europa League, at San Siro against Milan, he not only eliminated the pair Theo Hernandez and Rafa Leao, undoubtedly one of the most dominant chains of wingers in European football, but also fielded the tears and the quality that made his performance total.
But there is more in Stephan El Shaarawy’s 90 minutes of Milan. Not just an evening to remember, like others in the past. With De Rossi on the bench, and with Spalletti having to decide which Italy to take to the European Championships, ‘the Pharaoh’ can definitely exit a good career to enter a different dimension.
The champion who knows how to be a wingman can become, and it’s not too late, an absolute protagonist. Someone to give a shirt to regardlessone around which to build not only a solution that responds to a tactical need but a game idea that enhances quality together with running, tactical intelligence together with the ability to have an impact.
In De Rossi’s Roma, El Shaarawy has already taken this step. He is no longer an option in the squad but is a starter, who only stops due to turnover needs, who is invested with responsibility, who does the most difficult task of the day. The appearances, the assists, the performance say it. And Theo Hernandez and Rafa Leaao also say it. A few more goals are missing but the path towards definitive consecration is traced. (By Fabio Insenga)