The magic was never going to last in Rome. Despite securing top three finishes in Serie A in each of the last five seasons and reaching the dizzying heights of last year’s Champions League semifinals, this is still a selling club, as evidenced by the big-money departures of Miralem Pjanić, Mohamed Salah, Antonio Rüdiger, Alisson, Kevin Strootman and Radja Nainggolan over the last three summers.
Despite sporting director Monchi’s reputation for successful wheeling and dealing, Roma finds itself in a similar crisis to Tuesday's UCL opponents, Real Madrid. The Eternal City club is poised to advance to the Round of 16 in the competition, but domestically, Roma is mired in seventh with only five wins in 13 games.
“In terms of motivation, Roma is at 100 percent,” said Monchi. “Last year was great, we made a lot of changes and it took us some time to find the right path. Now we are closer to what we want. We are the capital of Italy; the intention is to have a winning project. All the processes have to be carried out one step at a time and we already made important ones last year. We need time. We have one of the youngest teams in Italy, we have 17 internationals. It is a project that needs time to mature.”
That’s all well and good, but “time” is the one factor that supporters around the world cannot countenance, especially on the back of so much success without ever actually winning anything (Roma’s last major title was the 2008 Coppa Italia).
Things hit a low Saturday following a 1-0 away defeat to Udinese — Roma’s third such defeat to a team near the bottom of the Serie A table.
But Real Madrid’s visit to the Stadio Olimpico represents a fantastic opportunity to turn things around. Both teams sit atop UCL Group G with nine points from four matches, but Real commands the table thanks to the 3-0 victory over Roma it recorded back on Sept. 19.
That moment was easily Real’s highlight of the 2018-19 campaign thus far. That win made it five matches unbeaten to start Julen Lopetegui’s reign as boss. And then it all fell apart. His replacement, Santiago Solari, briefly calmed the waters, but Real’s 3-0 away defeat to Eibar on Saturday painted an even clearer picture of the malaise.
But again, Tuesday is a clash between, if not fallen giants, staggeringly blitzed behemoths.
Here’s the rallying cry Roma defender Aleksandar Kolarov issued to supporters before the massive tilt: “I don’t have to make any promises to the fans. They have every right to be angry, but I know that I’m doing my job as best I can, from the very first day I started playing football. Fans can express their opinions at the stadium, but they must also be aware that they don’t understand much about football. I’m not just talking about Roma fans, but fans in general. I like tennis and basketball a lot, but I’d never dare to say how (Novak) Djokovic should play. People talk too much and they waste their breath without actually saying anything.”
Is Kolarov’s epic monologue on the same level as a Francesco Totti speech? Probably not.
This is amazing! #ASRoma #RomaPorto pic.twitter.com/TsqOGaj8mY
— CareerModeStars (@CareerModeStars) August 23, 2016
But I do think it’s important that in today’s society of soccersplainers and zeitgeist charlatans, we get a modern day Socrates to tell us that our wisdom is only limited to an awareness of our own ignorance. So when you’re telling me that, based off my UCL predictions, I know nothing, trust me, I already know that.
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