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LiveTickets
FBL-EUR-C1-FENERBAHCE-ROMAAFP
Emanuele Tramacere
Translated by

Roma-Inter, Balerdi-Ndicka list mystery: what happened and who plays?

Roma
Inter
Serie A
Roma vs Inter

Initially, the Ivorian had been expected to start, but it will be the former Marseille player who starts.

The build-up to Roma v Inter, the headline fixture of the fifth round of the 2026/2027 Serie A season, took an unexpected twist when the official line-ups were announced. Gian Piero Gasperini had named Evan Ndicka among his starters, bringing him back into the XI after the flu that ruled him out of the match against Torino.

On the pitch, though, Leonardo Balerdi emerged alongside the other 10 starters during the warm-up, with the Argentine centre-back seemingly set to start barring any further surprises.

So what happened? And who will actually play against Inter?

  • Balerdi plays

    According to Dazn, Evan Ndicka was included in the team sheet initially submitted by Roma to Lega Serie A. The Ivorian was therefore set to start, at least according to what was written on the match sheet.

    Still, Balerdi warmed up alongside Mancini and Hermoso, the other two starting defenders in this match. In the end, the former Marseille defender from Argentina will start.

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  • What happened

    The mistake, again according to Dazn, came when the teamsheet was drawn up and there was no issue at all involving Ndicka.

    Gasperini had already decided from the start to play Balerdi, but the change was not included on the first match teamsheet. The second, corrected version arrived shortly after the official communication was sent to the press, by which point Ndicka's place in the starting line-up had already been circulated.

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