This article is the third part of a five part series. Read part one here and part two here.
In spring 2011 – as a disappointing season was drawing to its conclusion – AS Roma made history by becoming Serie A’s first foreign-owned club. A consortium, led by US businessman Thomas DiBenedetto, signed a deal to take control of the club from the Sensi family, who had been in charge at the Stadio Olimpico since 1993.
Speaking at the time, DiBenedetto, whose family has Italian origins, said his ambition was to make Roma ‘one of the top teams in the world’. However, in season 2010/11, Roma were only the sixth top team in Italy. After the herculean efforts of the previous campaign, when manager Claudio Ranieri’s side went on a 24-match unbeaten run and almost won the Scudetto – only to lose out on the final day of the season – Roma had hit the buffers; Ranieri’s side only took two points from the season’s first four matches. There were bright spots – a 1-0 home victory over champions Inter Milan, a 2-0 Rome derby win and a 1-0 triumph over AC Milan – but Roma were far too inconsistent. On 20 February 2011, following a 4-3 defeat at Genoa, which had been preceded by a 2-0 home defeat to Napoli and a 5-3 reverse against Inter at the San Siro, Ranieri stood down. He would return to the Roma dugout later in his career, three years after he completed one of the finest achievements in modern football history by leading Leicester City to the English Premier League title in 2016.
Former Roma striker Vincenzo Montella, a key part of the Scudetto-winning side of 2001, took over as caretaker manager for the rest of the season. Of his 13 league games in charge, Montella won seven – including a 2-0 victory in the season’s second Rome derby – drew three and lost three.
Despite a promising end to the campaign, Montella did not stay beyond his interim appointment. Roma’s new owners came with new ideas, but DiBenedetto would quickly find out that – as the old maxim suggests – the Eternal City was indeed not built in a day.
Spanish revolution in Rome
The football world watched on in awe as, in May 2011, Pep Guardiola’s Spanish giants Barcelona dismantled Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United in the Champions League final at Wembley. Three years earlier, the Spanish national team had lifted the European Championships trophy – which they would retain in 2012 – before winning the World Cup in 2010. In the early years of the new decade, Spain was, undoubtedly, the dominant force in world football, and it was to Barcelona that Roma turned to try and kick-start a new era in the Eternal City.
Luis Enrique had enjoyed a decorated playing career, which included five years at Real Madrid and eight at Barcelona. In 2008, he was appointed manager of Barcelona’s B side, working with players immersed in the club’s ‘tiki-taka’ footballing philosophy. Enrique was seen by many observers as the natural successor to Guardiola in the first team dugout, but, by 2011, and with his mentor agreeing to stay in charge for another season, Enrique decided it was time to step out from the shadows.
Walter Sabatini, Roma’s director of football, explained at the time why the club believed Luis Enrique was the man to lead them forward. “The reason we chose Enrique is symbolic,” he said. “He represents discontinuity. Enrique represents an idea of football that we would like to follow, which imposes itself today through Spain and Barcelona.”
Also joining the club for the new season were Dutch goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg, defenders Gabriel Heinze and Simon Kjaer, Miralem Pjanic, an exciting Bosnian midfielder and free-kick expert signed from Lyon, winger Erik Lamela and strikers Fabio Borini, Marco Borriello and Dani Osvaldo. Perhaps the most exciting addition of all, however, was the arrival of Barcelona’s highly promising youngster Bojan Krkić. Having scored more than 800 goals at youth level, Bojan went on to become Barcelona’s youngest player to score in a La Liga match – at the age of 17 years and 53 days he broke Lionel Messi’s record by almost eight-and-a-half months – but found himself behind Messi, Pedro and David Villa in the race for a first team spot. When Roma made a bid of €12 million ahead of the 2011/12 campaign, the 20-year-old joined Luis Enrique in swapping Catalonia for the Eternal City.
If any Roma fans believed the appointment of Enrique, and a raft of new signings, would bring instant success and a brand of football based on Barcelona’s hugely effective template, they were to be left disappointed. Enrique’s Roma suffered a 2-1 aggregate loss to Slovakians Slovan Bratislava in the Europa League play-off round (the Spaniard left Francesco Totti on the bench for the first leg, a 1-0 defeat in Slovakia) and lost their opening game of the Serie A season at home to Cagliari. Enrique’s first league win arrived in week four, Dani Osvaldo scoring the only goal of the game away at Parma. Bojan scored his first goal for the club the following week, as Roma registered a morale-boosting 3-1 win against Atalanta ahead of the season’s first Rome derby.
With the intense tv, radio, newspaper and social media build-up inescapable in the week leading up to the Derby della Capitale, the importance of the fixture to Roma and Lazio fans would not have been lost on Enrique. Within five minutes of the game kicking-off, the Spaniard was celebrating as Dani Osvaldo displayed ice-cold composure amidst the heat of the battle to score his first Rome derby goal and put the Giallorossi ahead.
Roma still led by a single goal at half-time but, five minutes after the restart, their world crumbled around them as Danish defender Kjaer conceded a penalty and was sent off. Lazio’s Hernanes converted the resulting spot-kick and, for the remainder of the second half, the Biancocelesti pushed for a winning goal against the 10 men. Just as it looked as though Roma would hold out for a hard-earned point, Lazio’s Miroslav Klose struck an injury-time winner to leave Roma crushed and a visibly dejected Enrique on his haunches on the touchline.
Roma lifted themselves from the canvas to defeat Palermo the following week, but a further four league defeats followed before Christmas, including a chaotic 3-0 loss at Fiorentina, during which Brazilian defender Juan, Argentinian midfielder Fernando Gago and Bojan were all sent off.
An impressive 3-1 win at Napoli on 18 December began a sequence of four consecutive victories, but fortunes remained mixed during the second half of the campaign. There were undoubted high points – a 4-0 thumping of Inter Milan in February – but far too many lows. A 4-1 defeat at Atalanta was followed by a second Rome derby defeat of the season, and Juventus – who would go on to lift their first Scudetto in the post-Calciopoli era that same season – served up a 4-0 hammering of the Giallorossi in April. Stekelenburg, who became the first-ever Dutch player to appear for Roma when he signed for the club, was sent off in the defeats to Lazio and Juventus.
By the end of the season, Roma had won 16 league games, drawn eight and lost 14, finishing in seventh place (one place lower than the previous campaign) in the Serie A table. The ‘Barca-Roma’ project hadn’t taken off and, after a single season in the capital, Luis Enrique left Roma. Following a season at Celta Vigo, he went on to manage Barcelona for three years before being appointed manager of the Spanish national side.
Zemanlandia: the Roma sequel
If the appointment of Luis Enrique had brought an element of the unknown to Roma’s playing style, there would be little doubt as to the methods employed by the Spaniard’s successor in the dugout. “If you score 90 goals, it shouldn’t really worry you how many are conceded”, is one of Czech coach Zdenek Zeman’s most famous quotes.
Zeman is, undoubtedly, one of the most colourful characters in Italian football’s recent history. From his earliest days in coaching, the Czech had a strong belief in the powers of youth as he adopted a ‘gung-ho’ attacking philosophy. The chain-smoking manager’s teams honed their system, and bodies, during high-intensity training sessions; Zeman’s methods focussed on large quantities of sprints, aerobic work and his famous ‘gradoni’(various forms of jumping and hopping exercises on the training ground terraces). Zeman had previously managed Roma between 1997 and 1999, but his most famous success in Italian football had been guiding Apulian club Foggia from the third tier to Serie A in 1991. It was during these Foggia dei miracoli (as the team were known) years that the term ‘Zemanlandia’ was coined to describe Zeman’s 4-3-3 system that focussed on intense pressing and intricate movements that aimed to leave the opposition bamboozled.
Zeman’s second spell in charge at Roma came on the back of a sensational season at Pescara; with the aid of a young Ciro Immobile, Lorenzo Insigne and Marco Verratti, the Czech coach led the Delfini to the 2011/12 Serie B title, the club scoring 90 goals in the process.
Despite approaching his thirty-sixth birthday, and Zeman’s preference for fielding young players, Roma captain Francesco Totti was to be a key part of Zemenlandia part II in the Eternal City. Zeman was once asked to name his three top players in Italy, a question to which he responded: ‘Totti, Totti, Totti.’ However, Zeman’s devotion to playing a 4-3-3 formation meant his club captain had to tweak his game. With no room for a classic Number 10 in his line-up, Zeman deployed Totti on the left-hand-side of his three-man attack.
Despite all the hype and energy brought by the return of Zeman, Roma could only manage a 2-2 draw at home to Catania on the opening day of the 2012/13 season. However, the Giallorossi exploded into life on match day two with a 3-1 victory over Inter Milan at the San Siro. Totti was the star man, providing two assists, the first of which allowed fellow Roman Alessandro Florenzi to head home the opening goal on his first-ever start for the Roma first team. After his former striker partner and soulmate Antonio Cassano had levelled for Inter, Totti’s second assist of the match came in the form of a glorious through ball for Dani Osvaldo – the Argentinian striker delicately clipping Totti’s pass over Inter goalkeeper Luca Castellazzi and into the net. Brazilian midfielder Marquinho crashed home a third goal from a tight angle to complete a fine evening’s work for Zeman’s men.
In the following league match, Zeman and Roma suffered their first defeat of the season in embarrassing fashion. Having led Bologna 2-0 at half-time (courtesy of another goal from Florenzi and a long-range strike from Erik Lamela), the Giallorossi somehow contrived to lose 3-2 in front of a bemused Olimpico crowd.
On the last day of September, champions Juventus – with former Giallorossi favourite Mirko Vucinic in their line-up – thrashed Roma 4-1 in Turin. The Bianconeri tore a hapless Roma apart and led 3-0 after only 19 minutes. In truth, Zeman’s side were lucky to be only three goals down at half-time. The defeat in Turin was followed by two consecutive league victories (at home to Atalanta and away at Genoa) but momentum was proving impossible to find, and back-to-back 3-2 defeats (at home to Udinese and away at Parma) piled the pressure on Zeman’s side. A vintage attacking display saw Palermo swept aside 4-1 at the Olimpico, giving the Giallorossi a much-needed boost ahead of the 2012/13 season’s first Rome derby.
The 90 minutes against Lazio encapsulated the first half of Roma’s season in microcosm. Goals were not hard to come by; Erik Lamela netted for the sixth consecutive game and Miralem Pjanic scored a swerving free kick from 40 yards. However, between these goals – and thanks in no small part to some chaotic defending – Lazio scored three times and Daniele De Rossi was sent off for punching the Biancocelesti’s Stefano Mauri. The result meant that, across his two stints at Roma, Zeman had tasted victory only once in seven Rome derby matches.
Just as it looked as though the Czech manager’s position was under serious threat, Zeman’s Roma put together a run of four consecutive league wins. However, the wheels came off once again in the penultimate game before the Christmas break, as the Giallorossi fell to a 1-0 defeat at Chievo.
The mood was lifted in time for Christmas though, as Roma swept aside Max Allegri’s AC Milan at the Olimpico in the final match before the winter break. In true Zeman style, Roma raced into a 3-0 lead in the first half with goals from Nicolas Burdisso, Dani Osvaldo and Erik Lamela. Rediscovering his goalscoring form from earlier in the campaign, Lamela added a fourth goal just after the hour mark. Two late consolation goals from Milan – including a close-range finish from Roma loanee Bojan – didn’t change the outcome of the match, but it meant that the Giallorossi had conceded 29 goals in their first 18 league matches, the fourth highest total in the league. However, no side had matched Roma’s 42 goals scored and they had now won five of their last six matches.
The De Rossi dilemma
While 30-year-old Francesco Totti was flourishing in his left-sided forward role, life in ‘Zemanlandia’ was not proving to be a fairy-tale for Roma’s other bandiera, Capitano Futuro Daniele De Rossi. Although the midfielder had played a starring role in December’s victory over AC Milan, it was only De Rossi’s seventh start in 17 league matches. Zeman had shown a preference for recent midfield arrivals Michael Bradley and Panagiotis Tachtsidis, with the youthful energy of Alessandro Florenzi also earning him plenty of game time in the Czech coach’s side.
Ill-discipline had also cost De Rossi, his red card in November’s Rome derby defeat earning him a three-match suspension. Uncertainty had surrounded the midfielder’s future at his hometown club – he had been heavily linked with a move to Manchester City before the start of the season – but he had chosen to stay in his beloved Eternal City.
Speaking after De Rossi’s performance against Milan, Zeman admitted it would be ‘very hard to put him back on the bench’ any time soon. However, as it transpired, in the whirlwind that is life at Roma, Zeman would not be making such decisions for much longer.
New Year, but old habits die hard
Napoli’s Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani made sure there were to be no Happy New Year celebrations for Roma fans in 2013; in the first game of the year, Cavani’s hat-trick set Napoli on their way to a 4-1 win over Roma in the Derby del Sole. The Giallorossi travelled to Sicily the following weekend and fell to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Catania. Two consecutive draws – at home to Inter and away at Bologna – brought a light reprieve, but the following match, at home to Cagliari, signalled the end of Zeman’s second spell in charge of Roma. Zeman himself must have known the writing was on the wall when future Roma midfielder, and Belgium international, Radja Nainggolan fired the side from Sardinia ahead in the third minute. Totti equalised for Roma before half-time but the sky fell in on Zeman and his side during a calamitous second period. A minute after the restart, goalkeeper Mauro Goicoechea somehow contrived to fumble what looked like a harmless cross into his own net. Marco Sau soon made it 3-1 for the visitors and Francesco Pisano added a fourth goal for Cagliari in the seventieth minute. An injury time goal from Marquinho did little to lift the gloom that had descended on the Olimpico. For Roma’s owners, the defeat to Cagliari proved to be the breaking point; with the Giallorossi in eighth place in the table – and without a win in five league games in the New Year – the Czech coach was fired meaning ‘Zemenlandia: the Roma sequel’ did not enjoy a Hollywood ending.
Defensive diamond from Brazil
Despite Zdenek Zeman’s name being synonymous with attacking football, it was, ironically, a young defender who shone most brightly for Roma during season 2012/13. Aged only 18, Brazilian Marquinhos (who played with the name ‘Marcos’ printed on his jersey to distinguish him from his compatriot Marquinho) joined Roma from Corinthians for a fee of €3 million in the summer of 2012. One year – and 30 appearances – later, the defender’s exciting performances led to French giants PSG parting with €35 million to take the Brazilian to Paris. At the time, this was the largest fee the Giallorossi had ever received for a player. Marquinhos, who was also being courted by Barcelona and Manchester United, would go on to captain PSG and make his debut for the Brazilian national side.
Andreazzoli takes the reins
Following the departure of Zeman, Aurelio Andreazzoli, who had been part of Roma’s coaching team in 2005 (having previously worked alongside Luciano Spalletti at Empoli and Udinese), was made caretaker manager for the remainder of the season. Andreazzoli had left Roma with Spalletti in 2009 but returned two years later to assist then caretaker manager Vincenzo Montella. He had since remained at the Olimpico and worked under the Luis Enrique and Zdenek Zeman regimes.
Roma lost Andreazzoli’s first game in charge 3-1 at Sampdoria, but it was a different story the following weekend as the Giallorossi defeated Juventus at the Olimpico. A tense match was decided by a moment of magic from Francesco Totti: a Miralem Pjanic free kick from distance was partially cleared, with the ball landing at the feet of the Roma captain 25 yards from goal. Before Juventus goalkeeper Gigi Buffon could set himself, the ball had been lashed past him courtesy of a ferocious strike from Totti’s right boot.
The win over Italian football’s Old Lady marked the first of three consecutive league victories for Andreazzoli and Roma. During his spell as caretaker manager, Andreazzoli presided over eight league wins, four draws and three defeats, which saw the Giallorossi finish sixth in the Serie A table. However, Andreazzoli’s biggest game, and biggest test, during his short spell in charge of the Giallorossi did not take place during the league campaign.
Rome stops on cup final day
Although his league record had been wildly inconsistent, Zdenek Zeman had led Roma to the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia with victories over Atalanta and Fiorentina. Somewhat bizarrely, the two legs of Roma’s last four tie against Inter Milan were to take place almost three months apart. Zeman was still in the Roma dugout in January as the Giallorossi saw off Inter 2-1 at the Olimpico, thanks to goals from Alessandro Florenzi and Mattia Destro. Destro was on target twice at the San Siro as Roma, now led by Andreazzoli, defeated Inter 3-2 in the second leg to set up the tantalising prospect of a national cup final against rivals Lazio.
The Coppa Italia final on 26 May 2013 was the 158th official meeting between Roma and Lazio, but never before had the two sides played with a major title on the line. With both teams finishing outside the European places in Serie A, the cup final would have the added incentive (as if any were needed) of entry to the following season’s Europa League for the winners, while the losers would be left empty-handed. If the pressure wasn’t great enough, Roma went into the final knowing that victory would see them become the first team to lift the Coppa Italia for a tenth time.
Following the biggest of build ups, and a notoriously tense city on the highest level of alert, ‘the biggest Rome derby of all time’ (as the match had been termed by the Italian sports press) was a game ruled by intense pressure and fear. After a first half with very little goalmouth action, Lazio raised their game in the second period and scored the game’s only goal in the seventy-second minute – Senad Lulić converting from close range. Even with so much at stake, Roma’s response was meek. A Totti free kick was awkwardly turned onto the crossbar by Lazio goalkeeper Federico Marchetti but that was as close as the Giallorossi came to an equaliser.
A season that had promised so much had resulted in so little and ended with the most bitter of defeats for Roma. Any hopes Aurelio Adreazzoli had of leading the Giallorossi beyond his caretaker spell were extinguished with the cup final loss. Once again, Roma’s owners had a major decision to make: with the club missing out on European football for the second consecutive season, to whom would the responsibility of resurrecting Roma’s fortunes and leading the Giallorossi forward be given?
Garcia’s perfect 10
As the referee’s whistle signalled the end of Roma’s home match against Chievo on 31 October 2013, the Stadio Olimpico crowd rose to its feet; a 1-0 victory – secured by a Marco Borriello goal in the sixty-seventh minute – meant Roma had won their first 10 league games of the season, beating Juventus’ 2005/06 record of winning their opening nine league matches in the process. Perhaps even more remarkable was the fact that Roma had conceded only a single goal, while scoring 24, during the winning run.
A 2-0 triumph in the season’s first Rome derby, a 3-0 victory over Inter at the San Siro and a 2-0 win over Napoli at the Olimpico were the most notable results. However, the spirit of this new Roma was, perhaps, best encapsulated with the 1-0 victory at a rain lashed Stadio Friuli in Udine on matchday nine. When new signing Maicon (previously of Inter Milan and Manchester City) was sent-off for his second bookable offence in the sixty-sixth minute, with the two sides locked at 0-0, it looked as though the ten men of Roma would have to battle for a point against a threatening Udinese side, captained by their talisman Antonio Di Natale. However, as the hosts pressed, Roma’s US midfielder Michael Bradley hit them with a perfect sucker-punch, side-footing the ball expertly past Udinese goalkeeper Ivan Kelava in the eighty-second minute to give the away side victory.
By all accounts, Roma’s US owners – now led by President James Pallotta, who had succeeded Thomas DiBenedetto a year earlier – had pulled off a masterstroke by appointing former Lille manager Rudi Garcia as the club’s new coach in the summer. Known for his teams’ attacking style, the French manager led Lille to the Ligue 1 title in 2011 with a side featuring Eden Hazard, who would go on to star for Chelsea and Real Madrid. In addition to hiring Garcia, Roma had also been busy strengthening the playing squad. Joining Maicon in the Eternal City were goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis from Napoli, defender Mehdi Benatia from Udinese, midfielder Kevin Strootman from PSV Eindhoven and forwards Gervinho and Adem Ljajić, from Arsenal and Fiorentina respectively. The all-action Belgian midfielder Radja Nainggolan would also join the Giallorossi from Cagliari midway through the 2013/14 season.
Although Torino halted Roma’s winning streak on matchday 11 – a 1-1 draw in Turin kicked off a sequence of four consecutive league draws for the Giallorossi – Garcia’s side remained unbeaten for the rest of the calendar year, winning 12 and drawing five of their opening 17 fixtures. The fact that – despite their hugely impressive form – Roma trailed Juventus by five points at the top of the Serie A table at Christmas 2013, showed just how titanic a task Rudi Garcia and his squad faced in trying to topple the Old Lady of Italian football from her perch. Chasing their third consecutive Scudetto, Antonio Conte’s Juventus side had won 15, drawn one and lost one of their opening 17 games. And it would be to Turin that Roma would travel to face the league leaders as Serie A returned in January, following the traditional Christmas break.
Unbeaten run hits buffers in Turin
Losing your first game of the season halfway through the campaign would not normally signal the end of a team’s title ambitions, but it would be hard to argue against the conclusion that Roma’s Scudetto fate was sealed as they suffered a 3-0 loss to Juventus – a defeat that saw the Turin side move eight points clear of the Giallorossi at the top of the table.
Garcia’s side began the match brightly, but once Arturo Vidal put the hosts in front in the seventeenth minute, there was only ever going to be one winner. Leonardo Bonucci doubled Juventus’ lead three minutes into the second half, and any faint hopes the Giallorossi had of salvaging something from the match were dashed during two chaotic minutes in the game’s final quarter. With 75 minutes on the clock, Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini had broken forward with the ball and was making progress down the left wing. Not for the first time in his career, Daniele De Rossi saw the red mist and his crunching challenge to halt Chiellini earned him a straight red card. From the resulting free-kick, Roma defender Leandro Castan cleared a goal-bound header off the line with his hand, a move that saw him concede a penalty and join De Rossi in being dismissed. To compound Roma’s misery, former Giallorossi favourite Mirko Vucinic stepped up and converted the spot-kick to seal a 3-0 win for the hosts.
Despite the major set-back in Turin, Garcia’s side won their next three league games – scoring 10 goals and only conceding one – before drawing 0-0 with Lazio in the second Rome derby of the season. It wasn’t until 9 March, Roma’s twenty-sixth league match of the 2013/14 season, that the Giallorossi suffered their second defeat of the campaign, with a 1-0 loss at Napoli.
Another winning streak, but Scudetto eludes Roma again
Following defeat at Napoli, Rudi Garcia and his charges rekindled memories of the start of the campaign by going on another remarkable winning run. Beginning with a 3-2 victory at the Olimpico over Udinese, the Giallorossi won nine consecutive league matches, culminating in a 2-0 win over AC Milan in Rome. Striker Mattia Destro, who ended the campaign as Roma’s top scorer with 13 goals, was on a hot streak of form, scoring seven times in nine matches, including a hat-trick in a 3-1 win at Cagliari. By the time Roma lost their final three league games of the season, Juventus had already secured the Scudetto; the Bianconeri amassed an incredible 102 points, winning 33, drawing three and losing two of their league fixtures.
The 85 points that Rudi Garcia’s Roma earned in the Frenchman’s first campaign in Italian football would have been enough to win the Scudetto outright in five of the 10 years since Serie A moved to a 38-game season in 2004/05 (Inter Milan won the league with 85 points in season 07/08). There could be little doubt that Garcia’s appointment had proved to be a sound choice by the Roma board; but could the Frenchman build on his first season and elevate Roma to an even higher level?
Gervinho reborn in Rome
When Roma spent €8 million to sign Gervinho from Arsenal in summer 2013, it would be fair to say the transfer didn’t set pulses racing in the Eternal City. The Ivory Coast international endured a frustrating two years in London, where he struggled to make an impact in Arsene Wenger’s side. However, Rudi Garcia made it clear that the Ivorian striker – who played a key role for Garcia in his title-winning Lille side in 2011 – was a priority transfer.
A player clearly thriving under the guidance of Garcia once again (the Frenchman had also signed Gervinho for Le Mans before bringing him to Lille), Gervinho quickly became a favourite with the Giallorossi due to his explosive attacking bursts. The Ivorian’s first goal for Roma arrived in a 2-0 defeat of Sampdoria on 25 September 2013. Four days later, he scored a brace as the Giallorossi thrashed Bologna 5-0 at the Olimpico. Gervinho’s second goal of the evening was particularly special – the Ivorian tying the Bologna backline in knots before slamming a right-foot shot high into the net.
Gervinho was at it again as Roma defeated Inter Milan 3-0 at the San Siro in their next league match. After laying on an assist for Totti to crash home the opener from long range, his slalom through the Inter defence saw him upended in the penalty box, earning Roma a penalty, which Totti converted. In his first season in the Eternal City, Gervinho found the net 10 times – including the only goal in a Coppa Italia quarter-final win over Juventus – and provided four assists in Serie A.
The Ivorian would go onto enjoy a further season-and-a-half with Roma before moving to Chinese Super League side Hebei China Fortune in January 2016.
Juve’s psychological hold tightens
Hopes were high in the Eternal City at the beginning of Rudi Garcia’s second season in charge of Roma, and expectations were raised further when his Giallorossi side won their first five league matches of the 2014/15 campaign. Defenders Ashley Cole and Kostas Manolas, midfielder Seydou Keita and forward Juan Iturbe were among Garcia’s summer signings as the Frenchman looked to bolster his squad and loosen Juventus’ vice-like grip on the Scudetto. On matchday six, Roma travelled to Turin to face their title rivals and, with the sides tied at 2-2 with five minutes of the match remaining, looked to have secured what would have been a vital, as well as morale boosting, draw. However, Leonardo Bonucci’s spectacular late volley saw the Bianconeri take the spoils and strengthen their psychological hold on the Giallorossi.
As had been the case the previous season, Roma’s second defeat of the campaign came on their travels to Naples, with Napoli beating the Giallorossi 2-0 on matchday 10. The following weekend’s 3-0 victory over Torino kicked-off a 16-match unbeaten league run for Garcia’s side, however the run included 10 draws, and the 20 dropped points dashed any hopes Roma had of seriously challenging Juventus for the title.
Roma return to Europe
Roma’s second-place league finish in 2013/14 brought the reward of a return to European competition following a two-year break. A tough Champions League draw for 2014/15 pitted the Giallorossi against Bayern Munich, who won the competition in 2013, Manchester City and CSKA Moscow. A 5-1 win over CSKA at the Olimpico was followed by a very creditable 1-1 draw in Manchester. On matchday three of the group stage, in front of more than 70,000 fans at the Olimpico, the wheels came off for Garcia’s side as a rampant Bayern Munich hit Roma for seven. Gervinho’s goal for Roma meant a final score-line of 7-1, a chilling reminder for the Giallorossi of the demolition they had suffered, in the same competition, against Manchester United in 2007.
A 1-1 draw in Moscow kept Roma’s qualification hopes alive but a 2-0 home defeat to Manchester City in the final group game consigned Roma to third place, which brought with it a spot in the last 32 of the Europa League, where they were drawn against Dutch side Feyenord.
Roma could only manage a 1-1 draw in the Europa League tie’s first leg at the Olimpico, leaving them with a tough task in the second leg at the notoriously hostile De Kuip stadium in Rotterdam. However, goals from Adem Ljajić and Gervinho, either side of Manu’s strike for the home side, saw Roma progress 3-2 on aggregate and set up a pulsating, all Italian, last-16 tie against Fiorentina.
La Viola held the psychological advantage going into the tie in March, having knocked Roma out of the Coppa Italia with a 2-0 victory at the Olimpico the previous month. A 1-1 draw in Florence left the Europa League tie wide open going into the second leg in Rome, as the Giallorossi aimed for a place in the quarter-finals, and an opportunity to take a step closer to their first European final since losing the European Cup to Liverpool in 1984, a match that was played at the Stadio Olimpico. Within 22 minutes of the second leg starting, Roma’s hopes were dashed as the visitors raced into a 3-0 lead, which Roma could not overturn. Fiorentina’s 4-1 aggregate victory saw them reach the quarter finals, where they defeated Ukrainians Dinamo Kiev before falling to eventual winners Sevilla in the last four.
Second place earns Garcia third season
Despite the disappointing European exit, Roma regrouped to finish second in Serie A – one point ahead of city rivals Lazio but a disappointing 17 behind champions Juventus – and secure automatic qualification for the following season’s Champions League group stage.
Rudi Garcia’s second season in charge of Roma may have lacked some of the energy and excitement of his first, but there could be little argument against the decision to keep the Frenchman in charge for a third campaign. Garcia’s task in overhauling Juventus was similar to that which Luciano Spalletti faced in fighting to overcome a dominant Inter Milan in the second half of the previous decade. And when Garcia’s time ran out in early 2016, a familiar face returned to the Eternal City.