Costa Rica managed to grab a surprise victory as Italy disappointed yet again following their bad display against Croatia a couple of days ago but El Shaarawy was there to give Italian fans something to cheer about. The flight from Croatia to Costa Rica definitely had an impact and it showed on the field as Italy looked sloppy and tired which is understandable but with club duties now coming back very soon, they'll need to come back perfectly fit otherwise some managers might think about letting their players go on national duty with Totti again. A fantastic result for Costa Rica as the hero Joel Campbell repeated Italy's infamous defeat to the host nation at the 2014 World Cup group stages.
What an abysmal performance again. Ugh, I'm starting to feel sick of this, what the **** is going on? I mean come on, Costa Rica? And here I was saying we have one of the best teams in the world and we draw with Croatia and lose to Costa Rica. Don't get me wrong, they're good teams too but we should be better, we are better, it just really didn't show this week. Now I'm actually just happy to leave the national duties and go back to Rome; I missed my son and my wife and we have good games coming up (stressful for sure but good games anyway) so I'm excited to get ready for those. Let's hope all the players come back fit though because Eugene already got injured for over a month earlier this week so it would be stupid to get another couple of injuries before the Arsenal game.
French superstar Lucas Hernandez, a signing at Roma from the summer of 2019 when he signed from Tottenham for 16 million euros, has been ruled out for the rest of the season as he suffered a fracture of his lower leg. The physiotherapists and doctors at Clairefontaine (France's training ground) reckon he could be out for longer than that if he was to not be careful enough during his recovery but Roma and Italy boss Francesco Totti will definitely be disappointed that his key centre-back is out for the rest of the season but when asked about it during a phone call with BBC News, he announced that even though it was a big setback in Roma's season, it would give a chance to youngsters and other players to step up and try to do a job to replace the gap left by Lucas' injury.
It's EXACTLY what I feared. I told them on the phone I wasn't too worried to sound like everything was fine but Lucas has been a crucial part of how we play and just our way of life here at Roma since he joined. What the **** did he do to deserve a broken leg? ******* it. The worst part is that at 24 years old, he's really in the peak of his growth and of his career and that's when we would be getting the best out of him but oh well. I guess we have Leonardo, our young centre-back from the academy. There's also Dejan who could step in? I need to think about this a lot now because Lucas was a very important player and we'll now have to really just change things around because it will be hard to replace him.
It was a day to remember for Roma as they beat Inter's Serie A record for most games won in a row after a 5-1 victory against Carpi to take the new record to 18 games and it's still going as Roma have now won all 13 of their league games this season. Kenedy scored a brace as did Lazaar and Pjanic scored a goal of his own to assure Roma of that new record and to keep their Serie A 100% record going. Carpi was no match for Roma's superiority as they have prepared very well for their midweek clash against Arsenal which will take place in a few days at the Emirates Stadium.
What a great victory and what a way to set a record! Lazaar scoring 2 from left-back is absolutely unbelievable and Kenedy finally found the back of the net again. We are definitely ready for the Arsenal game now, I can feel it. It's going to be a very tough and stressful game but today we just played so well that I think the players will just want to play the exact same game and hopefully get the same outcome because what a victory, 5-1! Great job from all the players they were honestly amazing and I haven't seen a performance that good from them in a while.
AS Roma, who won the competition last year against Napoli, have just been knocked out of their group as they lost to Arsenal 3-1 at the Emirates Stadium. With just a game to spare, they will be relegated to the Europa League where they'll have a chance of redeeming themselves but it might be one of the first times that a Champions League winner gets knocked out of the group stages the year after apart from Chelsea in 2013 (however, the English side did go on to win the Europa League so, a sign of things to come for Roma?). Totti will not be happy at all about this result and definitely furious about not qualifying, in fact he's not been seen since the final whistle which really goes to show the horrendous-ness of the result for Roma.
An absolutely awful game which makes us look like absolute fools. Oh we won last year, that's what people kept saying, but now there we are getting knocked out. I mean how can that happen? We look ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous. I didn't even tell the players anything, I couldn't. There was nothing to say. We played horribly and got knocked out horribly. We were awful this campaign in the Champions League and deserved to go out I mean, PSV beat us twice for God's sake. Let's hope for a good draw in the Europa League because this has me fuming.
Roma continued their unstoppable form with a 3-1 win over Sampdoria as Kenedy starred as Roma's main goalscorer in the game, bagging a brace whilst Moroccan left-back Lazaar scored the other, his 6th of the season. Like many times before this season, Kenedy managed to score very early on and then again quite late on to secure the victory for his side and Totti will be happy about Roma's solid performance, especially given the fact that they were knocked out of the Champions League earlier this week after losing to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, sending them to the Europa League. Last season's top goalscorer Matias Vargas was the only glimmer of hope for Sampdoria as he scored in the 80th minute to bring it back to 2-1 but Kenedy crushed Sampdoria's hopes with his second goal in the 82nd minute.
Very solid performance from the boys; I'm still not completely over our Champions League elimination yet but I'm happy to see the players are. In the end, we'll still be able to play in Europe and at this point it's better to just move on and focus on doing well in the league to get a major trophy in this season and later on focus on the Europa League to try and win that too. Kenedy played well, those two goals were nothing less than I expected from a world-class goalscorer like him and Achraf well, it's kind of surprising that he's been managing to score so many goals this season as a left-back but I won't complain, great stuff.
Roma won their last Champions League match of the season against a poor Salzburg side but it was all but too late for Totti's side who finish 3rd in the group just a point behind PSV who qualify ahead of the current Champions League holders. Despite the convincing win, this brings to an end a disappointing Champions League campaign for I Giallorossi which in a way then means it is a positive result which will bring the start of a new campaign in the Europa League which Roma can definitely win provided they don't mess up like they did against PSV and Arsenal in the group stages. Kenedy scored once again to keep his amazing form going since coming back from injury about a month ago whilst Pjanic was the best player on the pitch and ruled the midfield. Iturbe scored his first goal in a few games and El Shaarawy did the same; overall a good performance for Roma that came just a bit too late in the group stages to save them from going to the Europa League.
I'm satisfied with that win but as all the papers said, it came too late. I don't really have anything to say other than I'm excited to see who we can draw against in the Europa League I guess? It's really disappointing to have not qualified and the board definitely let me know that they weren't happy about this at all. Thankfully, I can make up for it with the league and the Club World Cup and the Europa League but if I was in their position I would have reacted the same way, it's unacceptable for a club like Roma to get knocked out so early on. Hopefully this teaches us a lesson that we can remember for the rest of the season because I won't tolerate something like this again and I know the board won't either.
Huge shock at Torino's Olimpico tonight as bottom-placed Torino managed to hold off the Serie A leaders Roma to a draw, making them drop their first points of the season and ending their 100% record in the process. This still means that Roma are on a 44-MATCH unbeaten run but they'll be a bit disappointed about dropping points against a side much weaker than them on paper. The game was going perfectly well for Roma until before the half as they still had a whole other half to try and get a win but Torino thought otherwise and scored just 3 minutes before half-time then went 2-1 down just 4 minutes after the start of the second half but still managed to come away with a draw after scoring an equaliser in the 55th minute.
Not a very good result in a game that we really should have won but I'll take it. After 15 games, we're 12 points clear at the top of the table, unbeaten in 44 games and only drew one match so I think I'll let the players off. It was a bit emotional to take on Salzburg midweek because it was our last Champions League this season (we know we'll get Champions League football next season, let's be honest here) and it just wasn't great to say goodbye like that. This game against Torino was a chance for us to move on from it and we didn't really do that but I didn't blame the players, I just said that it was no problem and we could go on a well-deserved break now and take the plane to go play at the FIFA Club World Cup and then come back and do even better in the league. The FIFA Club World Cup will be really fun for sure, it's always a nice trophy to win even though it doesn't mean much and it's a way for us to experiment and have fun so I'm excited.
Roma destroyed Egyptian side Zamalek to cruise to the final of the FIFA Club World Cup where they'll face Santos. It was a very much expected result but Totti will be happy about getting such a convincing victory that gives Roma the chance to win another trophy this year. This is also Roma's first game since the Europa League First Knockout round draw which saw I Giallorossi get SC Braga for what will be their first European game since getting knocked out of the Champions League. It will be an entertaining draw but pundits are predicting an easy Roma win; however, Totti's side's two defeats against PSV against all odds in the Champions League could give the pundits some food for thought ahead of that game against Braga.
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A great victory that will boost our confidence for sure and again, a very fun game to play. All players enjoy taking part in a thrashing and we did so good for us. Santos will be a tough opponent but we should be able to beat them if we stay focused enough. About the Braga draw, I'm really looking forward to it. It'll be a tough game for sure but I definitely believe we can beat them in both legs as I think we're the better team. We can't make the same mistake as we did against PSV though so I'll make sure the boys are mentally ready for the game before actually letting them go on the field.
A great day comes to an end for Roma fans as their team won the FIFA Club World Cup against Santos in the final 2-0 wth goals from Iturbe and El Shaarawy. Totti will be delighted about Roma's second trophy of the season after they won the Supercoppa TIM and will definitely want to keep that kind of success going in the Serie A and the Europa League after they were knocked out of the Champions League earlier this year. It was a very much expected victory from I Giallorossi and it didn't surprise anyone to see them win this game although Santos put in a great fight and only lost 2-0, on the opposite of Zamalek who lost 5-0 in the semi-final. The next game for Roma is a cup game in the TIM Cup, competition that they have not won since 2018 and after that we'll be on with the start of 2021 and the opening of the transfer window.
YEEEEEEEES! That's what I shouted at the end of the game! The FIFA Club World Cup is the confirmation of ultimate domination, it means you ruled in your nation, in your continent and now the world. We were playing against the South American champions and let me tell you that Santos are not a bad team at all and they did so well, congratulations to them I wish them the best. Hopefully we can keep this form going in the next cup game and then we'll get a much, much deserved break before coming back in January. I was so happy about the win especially because we were travelling to Tunisia which isn't that far away, which means that we won't have to recover from that much after those games but what a great victory, fantastic performance once again from the players.
Totti's Roma finished their 2020 year off with a 4-2 win over second division side Virtus Entella as Kenedy and Iturbe both scored a brace to allow Roma to advance to the next round. It was a good victory for I Giallorossi despite getting a bit of a scare as the away side scored twice in 7 minutes in the last 15 minutes of the game but they held on and it finishes 4-2 at the Stadio Olimpico. They'll be hoping to do a bit better in the TIM Cup this season after only managing to go up till the quarter-finals last year and losing to Udinese but given Roma's overall record this season, it seems very likely that they go further than that this year and potentially even win it!
Good, solid win to give us some well-deserved rest. The lads have been SO incredible all season and they really just deserve some nice vacations and time with their families. I'm very happy with our performances this year and even though I hope for even better ones next year, I couldn't have asked for a better return to my boyhood club. I know I rejoined them back in 2018 but it feels like yesterday. It's really incredible to be back and I get just as excited for every game on the sideline now than I did when I arrived. I love those fans, this stadium, this club and I hope I can bring them even more success next year.
Second draw in a row in the Serie A for Roma as they couldn't get a win against a Palermo side who fought until the very end to keep their good result. Maksimovic was the man to thank for the away team as he was incredibly solid at the back and prevented goal machine Kenedy from scoring a second one on multiple occasions. This still leaves Roma at the top of the Serie A and now unbeaten in 45 league games with the record being 58 games unbeaten set by AC Milan between January 1991 and November 1992. Can I Giallorossi smash yet another record in the league this season? We'll have to wait 13 games to see if they can at least equal it.
Poor performance, poor result. Honestly this is just one of those games that really, really demonstrate how weaker teams can sometimes play much better than bigger teams and manage to get a result which advantages them more than anything. We really should have gotten a win for our first game back but again, the fact that it's our first game back makes it not as bad as it is. Still though, Palermo have also been on a break and they played much better than us so I have to get the boys back into it, mentally AND physically.
Pescara couldn't keep their good run of form going as they lost to Roma at home despite Totti's men going a man down just after the hour mark. Filip Kostic scored a rare goal this season in the 37th minute to give Roma the 3 points and keep their 46-match unbeaten run going and leaves the current Serie A leaders miles off the current runners-up Inter. Not much more to say about this game apart from the fact that Roma are very, very dominant in the Serie A now and might just turn into the next Juventus and win league title after league title to take their current 5 Serie A titles to God knows how many. The fans will definitely have club legend Totti to thank for those amazing past few seasons and will forever have a place for the Italian legend in their hearts.
We struggled a bit more than I thought we would for this game but we still came away with the 3 points which was good and going away to Pescara isn't an easy trip considering their form this season so I'm happy about this win. Unfortunately, Leonardo got his career's first ever red card which was disappointing considering there was nothing that heated in the game but he's young and he was sent off for just making too many fouls so I guess I understand. The dream is still real for me here at Roma but to be honest, I have no idea what that dream is; I wanted to win the league with Roma and win a European trophy and I did all of that and initially I just wanted to manage Roma and I did that so I'm not sure what the future's got for me but I guess I'll just have to wait and see!
A superb performance from the Italian champions saw them win 4-0 against rivals Atalanta, securing their first place in the league and continuing their 47-match unbeaten run. Lazaar was the player to watch for the game and rightly so as he scored 2 goals with Kenedy and Firmino scoring the two other goals as Totti's side completely destroyed Atalanta. Nothing surprising from that result again apart maybe from the scoreline but even then, AS Roma have been incredibly dominant this season and it was still an expected easy victory for them.
Great win against our rivals again. It's like we're unstoppable now! I really just can't believe it and I hope we can keep this going but this is amazing; maybe that was my dream with Roma: break records, completely dominate the country, have amazing youngsters turn into superstars like Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi and win every competition we could possibly win. Whether that's in one season or not, we've already won the TIM Cup, Supercoppa TIM, FIFA Club World Cup, Serie A, Champions League so now we basically just need the Europa League and the UEFA Super Cup and after that I'm not sure what will happen or what I'll do but I guess just keep going!
Bottom-placed Perugia earned an impressive draw against a flying Roma side who just couldn't break down the home side today. Bruno Miguel Gens Luis, who was the number one left-back in the FIFPro Team of the Year, got the man of the match award for a terrific performance as he stays Roma's best player since the start of the season and probably the bargain of the century as he came in on a free. Kenedy managed to grab a late-ish equaliser in the 72nd minute to score his 14th goal of the season as he now equalised El Shaarawy's goal scoring for the season.
Disappointing draw... We should have gotten the 3 points to just really assert ourselves as a dominant force in the Serie A but I guess this is just a minor setback in our eventual title win. Kenedy's goal scoring form has been incredible as of late and he's been saving us a lot of points and hopefully he can keep that going. Overall a good performance from the team but we'll need to step it up in our next game against Inter. A good game against them will mean we'll be prepared for our game after against Napoli that comes right after so let's hope the players stay motivated!
In an incredible night at the Olimpico in Rome, Francesco Totti's Giallorossis somehow managed to grab one of their largest victories of the season (5-1) against Inter, current Serie A runners-up. El Shaarawy scored twice but the milestone of the game was probably Luca Gallina's first ever professional goal as the young right-back was playing ahead of Javi Manquillo surprisingly enough. It will be a game to remember for almost all Roma players except maybe for Leonardo Berardi who scored his career's first own goal, maybe not something that players like to remember. This sees Roma now go 49 matches unbeaten and stay even further ahead at the top of the league table, leaving Inter in danger of going down to 3rd place.
What a victory! Even now, I'm still a bit nervous and emotional about playing my old club but what a fantastic victory this was! 5-1! This is our second huge win against a top team this season and I was really impressed by everyone, especially Luca! What a player I mean, Spalletti brought him in from Frosinone's academy and I have to say that's the only respect I have for him at this point because Luca is an absolutely cracking player and I'm so glad we have him in our squad. Nevertheless, I wanted a good game against Inter to prepare well for the game against Napoli and let's just say that this was the perfect way to win before our Napoli game. Forza Roma!!!
Roma reached "half-a-century" (as they would say in cricket) of unbeaten games as they beat Napoli 2-1 at the Olimpico, just a couple of days after their 5-1 win against Inter also at home. Roberto Firmino was the man to thank as he scored just a minute into the game, setting up I Giallorossi for a great game. Juan Iturbe ended up scoring the winner in the 26th minute so quite early on in the game as Roma's defence stayed incredibly solid as always, conceding only their 16th goal, making them the 3rd best defence in the Serie A. The team also scored their 60th and 61st goals of the campaign making them the best attack in the league, having scored 28 more goals than second best attack Inter, now sitting in 3rd place behind Juventus.
Fifty games unbeaten! What an incredible run! If we manage to keep going and finish the Serie A season unbeaten, it will be absolutely incredible and let's just say I'll be more than buzzing about it. Iturbe once again performed really well and really convinced me why I didn't sell him last season. With Konoplyanka's and Kostic's arrivals, he almost left the club but he convinced me to keep him and look at him now, having scored 13 times in 23 games and making 9 assists to bring his transfer value to 42.5 million euros which is incredible. A great run for the team, some great individual performances and hopefully some even better things to come now!
No surprises again as Roma beat Empoli at Carlo Castellani very easily and keep their ridiculous form going in the Serie A ahead of the their TIM Cup quarter-final clash with Bologna. Roma's schedule in the next month or so definitely looks to their disadvantage with games against Juventus in the league and Braga in the Europa League but looking at their last 3 fixtures (5-1 against Inter, 2-1 against Napoli, and 1-4 against Empoli) they really look like they could do well in those games and edge closer and close to the league title for the third season in a row and maybe even think about winning the Europa League provided they don't flop like they did against PSV. It's been a great season for Roma and their fans and they'll definitely be hoping for a third trophy or more this season in order to feel like it was actually all worth something.
Fantastic victory giving us a lot of confidence for the next few games and hopefully we'll keep getting those kind of results to secure the league title earlier and be able to focus on other competitions. The Europa League is a big competition for me as it's the first major competition I won as a manager and with a worse team than I have now as well so I really want to do well in it and maybe even win it. For that though, the players need to be extra focused and careful for every game or else we'll end up losing everything like we did against PSV and Arsenal.
Roma produced yet again an outstanding display which sees them storm through to the semi-final of the TIM Cup, giving them to chance to not win one, not two, but THREE more trophies this season with the Serie A, Europa League and TIM Cup still at hand for I Giallorossi. Amazingly enough, Totti's side was only leading 2-1 at half-time but somehow just crushed the second half as Kenedy, Pjanic and El Shaarawy all scored to make the final scoreline 5-1. Pundits were expecting a win for Roma but not by that big of a margin however Firmino's world-class performance just made Roma unstoppable. They go through to the next round where they will face AC Milan on the 2nd of March whilst the other semi-final will be Juventus against Empoli.
Absolutely delighted with that, it's the 3rd time in 4 games that we score 3 goals or more which really shows something about our attacking force. I mean, who else does that apart from Neymar, Messi and Suarez in their best days? Just an incredible performance all round and I'm really happy to see all the new signings play and take a part in our success and just outperform some of our starters, it shows the amount of competition there is in our squad which means there's an enormous amount of quality in the team. Just amazing and now I can't wait to face Juventus and Braga with the kind of form we're in.
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And Roma continue their unbeaten run! Kenedy scored a very early goal once again in the 4th minute before Dybala scored a screamer to equalise as Firmino gave the lead to Totti's side in the 44th minute before half-time. Dybala then scored AGAIN to make it 2-2 in the 86th minute but Firmino was having none of it and scored in the 92nd minute with a great shot that gifted Roma all 3 points in this close encounter. This got Juventus to move down all the way to 4th place in the league whilst Roma stay first, with a game in hand, 13 points clear of runners-up Inter. An incredible game today between two huge teams in Italy but Roma proved their superiority yet again in this game which will delight manager Totti and put Conte under a lot of pressure at Juventus.
FORZA ROMA!!! What a victory!! Against one of our biggest rivals and we perform like that? Now, THAT is how you win a game, just incredible! I'm so happy about this game and the result too and that should really scare Braga ahead of our game against us and they'll probably be on edge especially at home when we play them in a couple of days. I'm honestly so impressed with all of my players especially because some of them just, came here for no money whatsoever or a very small amount and somehow just completely outperform everyone's expectations of them so wow, what a victory, what a performance, what a season!
View attachment 161777 View attachment 161775 Goal-friendly Roma demolished Braga away from home in the first-leg of the First Knockout round of the Europa League, making it almost impossible for the Portuguese side to make it through and even hope to qualify for the next round. It was all thanks to goals from El Shaarawy, Nainggolan and Iturbe who scored twice. An incredibly dominant performance from Roma who continue their ridiculous form this season, winning their last 6 games in all competitions. Considering the pressure that I Giallorossi were under after their Champions League elimination, the players clearly got over that and performed out of this world to get such a great victory for their club.
Amazing, ridiculous, world-class. I have no words to describe this performance, we've been amazing all season but this was probably our game of the season! I'm so, so proud of this team and everything they've done so far this season and by winning this game we've put ourselves in a great position to have even more games to play and even more opportunities to score goals and win trophies. I don't want to get complacent at all but after this win I'm 99% sure that we'll be able to go through to the next round and hopefully face an opponent that we can play well against and beat!