FanPost

A Tragic Day for Roma (and Football)

Autumn of 2005. A new season just started, Spalletti was appointed as the new Roma coach in the summer after an outstanding season with Udinese. The club is in ruins. In the past twelve months, four coaches, four respectable men, fell victim of a painful season which saw Roma go from league runners-up to eight place and out of the UEFA Champions League. The most sounding names Roma signed in the calciomercato were Doni from Juventude, Cesare Bovo from Parma and Rodrigo Taddei from Siena. In short, all hopes of changing things around were put on the development of then 22 years old Daniele De Rossi and 21 years old Alberto Aquilani and the new coach.

By this time, Totti was already at his peak and had been for the last three years. I know, Totti was always great, one of those rare cases of prodigy kids that live up to (and maybe even surpass) the unreasonable expectations deposited on them. Since 2002, though, he was simply in irresistible form, every time he touched the ball people knew something unexpected was going to happen. He was fast, he was powerful, had legendary skill, he was confident, he would even take direct free kicks from 30 meters out and actually score or at least originate corners or second balls for players to tap in.

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The 2005/2006 season started as the 2004/2005 season ended. So bad it was getting fans, players and directors scared. By 18 December 2005 Roma had a 5W-6D-5L record in the league and was sitting in 10th place, 22 points from leader Juventus, 12 from 4th place Fiorentina. During that period, Totti wasn’t playing bad but he wasn’t being able to make a difference. The highlight of the season up until that time had been, undoubtedly, a win against Inter Milan at the Giuseppe Meazza by 2-3 with Totti scoring two goals, the first of them probably one of the best goals of the century, by running with the ball from the midfield, dribbling two opponents, cutting in from the left and chipping Julio Cesar from 25 meters out.

Having this scenario into account, fans were probably already thinking about next season. Well... Totti was having none of that. Indeed, what followed was one of the most amazing periods in Roma’s history, and something that even the most trustful fans would not have predicted.

Since the beginning of the season, Spalletti had been changing formations at neck-breaking speed. In four months, Roma experimented with the following formations: 4-2-1-3, 3-5-2, 4-2-3-1, 4-4-1-1, 4-3-2-1 and 4-4-2. Four days before the Christmas of 2005, Roma was going to play the last match of the year against Chievo. CF-less in a 4-2-3-1/4-6-0, Roma surprised everyone and convincingly won 4-0 at the Olimpico with two more goals signed by our beloved capitano. It was a turning point. With nothing to lose, Spalletti used Totti up front but with permission to drop and distribute, and il capitano seemed to have kicked a never before seen gear. I can confidently say that, since then, I’ve never seen anybody play like he did from then on. He scored 8 goals and made 7 assists in 7 matches. He simply took the league by storm and was probably getting himself in the discussion for the Ballon d’Or playing at Roma. In that time, Roma won against Milan in the league, eliminated Napoli and Juventus in the Coppa Italia and tied the club record for consecutive league wins at 9.

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On 19 February 2006, now only two points behind 4th place Fiorentina and four points behind 3rd place Inter, Roma went on to face Empoli at the Olimpico to try to set a new club record and reach a UCL spot. What seemed like a beautiful Sunday afternoon, however, became a dark page in the history of the club. Five minutes in and Totti had already taken over the match, missing a rocket from 30 meters out not by much and playing a beautiful through ball to Perrotta who was denied in front of goal by an inspired Empoli keeper. Unfortunately, in the sixth minute, like he did so many times, Totti dropped on the center-right to receive the ball from Aquilani. Empoli’s center back Vanigli followed him and imprudently charged him from behind making Totti awkwardly fall on his twisted left foot, fracturing his left fibula, with ligament damage. I will save you from the images of that gruesome season-ending injury. It was the end of the long-haired version of our capitano.

Roma ended up winning that match by a lone goal, in what was one of the most bittersweet record-breaking wins in club history. I still get a lump in my throat from time to time when I re-watch those images. How can life be so unfair? Here was this guy playing out of his mind, flying higher than he ever had, with two very important matches ahead of him against Lazio and Inter and then this happens. In fact, the importance of those matches was even greater than it seemed. You see, Roma wasn’t 2 points behind 4th place Fiorentina and 4 points behind 3rd place Inter. No, Roma was actually second place behind first place Inter Milan due to later point deduction to Juventus, Milan and Fiorentina after the calciopoli scandal.

Roma would actually win the following game against Lazio by 0-2 and extend the record of wins to 11, which still holds to this date. However, without its star and captain, and having Cassano been sold in the winter transfer season, the team lost its guiding light and was never the same. A record of 3W-6D-2L followed in the next and last 11 games of the season. Totti had effectively carried his team to what could have been a comeback to a much deserved fourth league title in the history of the club. Roma finished second, seven points behind Inter. We will never know what the club record for most consecutive wins in the league would be by now, had Totti not sustained that cruel injury, neither will we know if Roma would have won that league title if its captain was still around. It is hard to imagine Totti being greater than he his today. After that injury, he was still a genius and one of the best players the world had ever seen but his explosiveness and work rate were never quite the same. Did that injury prevent Totti from reaching even greater heights (if that is possible), or was it a blessing in disguise, which obligated Totti to learn how to play with less mobility, therefore extending his career in the way we later saw it did? I know, there’s nothing we can do to change the past so those what if questions only bring us anxiety at best.

19 February 2006 was a tragic day, let’s just be grateful that France recovered in time for the world cup and well enough to still have fun and entertain us for a decade more.