After seven games played in Serie A, the international break is the perfect time to dissect Roma’s start to the 2015-16 season in the league and in Europe.
Serie A
Roma started the season slowly. A disappointing draw in Verona against Hellas was not the first game Roma fans envisaged after an offseason filled with talk of winning the scudetto. But in their first home game of the season, the Giallorossi made a huge statement. A 2-1 victory against Juventus, coupled with an amazing performance got the Stadio Olimpico jumping. It was perhaps Rudi Garcia’s finest day in over two years at the club. What would have pleased the French coach most was the way in which his new signings integrated into the side. Lucas Digne and Wojciech Szczesny were superb in their home debuts. A narrow win over newly promoted Frosinone left Roma with seven points from their first three games.
But the next two matches saw Roma register disappointing results. The Giallorossi came back twice but could only manage a draw against Sassuolo, despite club legend Francesco Totti scoring his 300th goal for the side. Roma then suffered their first defeat of the season after a late Kostas Manolas own goal gifted Sampdoria all three points in Genoa.
Roma have since returned to the winner’s list, scoring nine goals in their last two games to secure wins over Carpi and Palermo. Garcia’s men will restart their league campaign against Empoli in 4th place with 14 points from seven games. Roma fans will be thrilled at being six points clear of Juventus at this stage of the season. But with top of the table Fiorentina looking like real contenders, sitting four points ahead of the Giallorossi, Roma still need to find consistency if they are to win a fourth Italian title.
Rating – 7.5/10
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Champions League
Roma faced the daunting prospect of kicking off their European campaign against reigning Champions League winners FC Barcelona. The Giallorossi conceded an early goal to Luis Suarez and the writing looked to be on the wall. But things took an unexpected twist. On the far touchline, Alessandro Florenzi picked up the ball just inside the Barcelona half. What happened next shocked the footballing world. Florezni saw Barca goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen off his line and scored from 60 yards out. The Stadio Olimpico went crazy. Roma produced a defensive master-class for the next 60 minutes. All 11 players did their job and kept Barca’s deadly trio quiet. A point from the toughest of games was a great start to Roma’s Champions League campaign.
Matchday two, however, was a nightmare. After 30 minutes in Belarus, Roma were 3-0 down to minnows BATE Borisov. The Giallorossi were all at sea and their defence was shambolic. Szczesny looked a shadow of the man who was so imperious against Juventus. Second half efforts from Gervinho and Vasilis Torosidis were not enough for Roma as they slumped to a disappointing defeat. The result continued their awful record away from home in the Champions League, with the team having failed to win outside of Rome since 2010 in the competition.
The game against BATE leaves Roma in a precarious position. Roma sit bottom of Group D, two points behind both BATE and Bayer Leverkusen and three adrift of reigning champions Barcelona. With back-to-back games against the German side and a trip to the Nou Camp in their next three Champions League matches, Roma have it all to do. Garcia’s men will probably need six points out of that trio of fixtures to stand any chance of progression on the final match day. That haul looks very unlikely on the basis of their last European outing.
Rating – 5/10
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