In the last ten days, Italian soccer giant AS Roma found themselves from a comfortable third place in the Serie A — Italy’s top-flight soccer league — to being on the verge of a sporting catastrophe.
In the last ten days, Italian soccer giant AS Roma found themselves from a comfortable third place in the Serie A — Italy’s top-flight soccer league — to being on the verge of a sporting catastrophe. Following a disastrous run of results, in less than a week the Giallorossi ended up knocked out of the Coppa Italia by freshly promoted Spezia, saw two team managers sacked over an administrative error, and have their manager Paulo Fonseca hanging in the balance after a row with captain Edin Džeko, with the latter reportedly frozen out of the squad. But how did Paulo Fonseca’s side manage to be in the news for all the wrong reasons? The beginning of the downfall has to be pinpointed to the humbling 3-0 defeat against arch-nemesis Lazio in the Derby Della Capitale, the derby of the city of Rome played January 15. A brace from Luis Alberto and a goal from Ciro Immobile gave Lazio one of their biggest ever wins in the derby, leaving AS Roma with an embarrassing defeat. The shoddy performance left the players shocked, especially because it came out of the blue. In fact, the Giallorossi were coming from a solid run of results before the derby fiasco, with 10 out of 12 points collected in the last four games. To add insult to injury, after just four days AS Roma followed up with an even more humiliating display as they were defeated 4-2 by Spezia and eliminated from the Coppa Italia’s round of 16.
