The Ukrainian striker is coming off a fairly positive form period, scoring 3 goals in the last three games he started in Serie A. Additionally, his only brace in “giallorosso” colours came in the Coppa Italia.

Artem Dovbyk will reunite with the “rossoneri” colours tonight. The attacker from Roma will take to the pitch from the 1st minute against Milan, in the quartefinals of the Coppa Italia scheduled to be held at San Siro tonight at 9:00 PM. The Ukrainian center-forward had been targeted by the Diavolo last summer, when the Giallorosso club finally edged out the competition with a total of 36 million from Girona. On December 29th, the ‘giallorossi’ managed to draw against the ‘rossoneri’ in what was a nail-biting match for the eighteenth round of the championship. The 1-1 deadlock proved costly for the ‘Diavolo’s’ then-coach, former star Fonseca. In a stunning twist, he was replaced by his fellow countryman, Conceicao. In the midst of it all, there was the winter transfer session of football, which saw the Milanese club as one of the absolute protagonists. Dovbyk’s prior experience at the ‘Scala of Football’ can be defined as reassuring. The Ukrainian striker, indeed, provided the assist for the final 1-1 by Dybala, with a valuable heel play on the verticalization of Pisilli. He had two attempts on goal guarded by Maignan, hit a post, and had 18 touches in 86 minutes played, but above all, did plenty of dirty work in service of the team winning two duels out of two and suffering one foul (data from SofaScore). In their latest match in Serie A, on Sunday against Napoli, he was unable to make a significant impact in the 26 minutes plus injury time he was given. However, this evening, the Ukrainian is ready to return to the starting line-up and make a decisive contribution in a game of paramount importance for Ranieri’s team’s Cup journey. In the Italian Cup then, on December 18 last year, he scored his first (and so far only) double in a Roma jersey, in the 4-1 victory at the Olimpico against Sampdoria in the round of 16. Perhaps this could also be the occasion to break the deadlock against a powerhouse, seeing as against the “leaders” of the Italian championship, the former Girona player hasn’t yet found the path to a goal.

Marcello Spaziani