Roma accidentally subbed off six players.
Admittedly, there have been times over the last six months or so when it’s been hard to keep pace with changes to substitution rules. One minute every competition allows five per game; the next, some – but not all – revert to the original three.
With that in mind, we have a *little bit* of sympathy with Roma boss Paulo Fonseca, after he inadvertently made an additional sub during his side’s Coppa Italia game with Spezia on Tuesday night. Especially when factoring in the nature of the game.
Roma eventually lost the game 4-2, but would have been dumped out of the competition even if they had won the game after they made six substitutions instead of the five permitted.
Days on from their 3-0 humbling by Lazio in the Rome derby, Roma fought back from 2-0 down to take the game to extra-time, but then had two players sent off before shipping another couple of goals to seal their cup exit.
Amidst the chaos, Fonseca apparently forgot he had already replaced five of his players and decided to take off former Barcelona and Chelsea winger Pedro for Ibanez.
“If there was a problem, that I honestly didn’t know about, we’ll discuss it internally,” Fonseca told reporters after the game.
This error comes months after Roma fielded an ineligible player during a Serie A game against Hellas Verona, enough for their opponents to be handed a 3-0 win.
It’s not clear at this stage if their latest breach of rules will result in any further sanctions for the club.
