“Hummels was chosen for the press conference because he’s a player of huge international standing, but that doesn’t mean he’ll play. I’m not playing mind games. I need to work it out tonight and tomorrow morning. I’ll speak to him and everyone else to get a better idea. He played 45 minutes. We’ll see if he’s recovered.”
While Ranieri could be playing coy in sending out his veteran German center back to the media on Wednesday, it seems like there’s no time like the present to start his European stalwart. Hummels was built for nights like this and will likely be relied upon to lead a backline that must slow down a Spurs side that just hung four on Manchester City on the weekend.
If Hummels starts, it’s very likely that one of Mancini or Ndicka will be benched, as projections from around the peninsula have Roma starting in a 4-4-1-1. Ranieri didn’t respond to the initial presser question about whether he’d play a back five like in the second half against Napoli. When he was pressed, he responded, "Yes, I will."
“So you know the line-up already, do you? It seems like you’ve already put three defenders on the pitch...”
In other good news, aside from his most experienced player in Hummels, Ranieri will also have his most dynamic player, Paulo Dybala, ready to go from the opening whistle. Additionally, Alexis Saelemaekers has returned from a lengthy injury spell and could provide a boost from the bench.
“Dybala has trained and doesn’t feel any pain. I put him on for a few minutes against Napoli. We’ll decide tomorrow what to do. As I’ve said before, it’s one thing playing with Dybala and another playing without. That’s why I threw him on for the final minutes against Napoli, because I knew he was capable of coming up with something. I wasn’t even going to take him to Naples but he wanted to come with us to be there with the team. He cares a lot about his team-mates and about everything. I threw him on as a last resort, to see if he could conjure something up. But I also told him to be careful not to get hurt because otherwise there would be no point putting him on the for final minutes.”
Aside from Mancini or Ndicka, the other regular starter who will likely find himself on the bench tomorrow is captain Lorenzo Pellegrini. The Roman skipper has struggled of late and is more likely to be an option during the course of the match rather than at the start.