Nine wins and counting – Roma are ending the season as they began with a long winning streak, with AC Milan the latest in their list of victims. In fact, Milan were the last top flight team who had not been beaten by Roma this season – either in the league or in the Coppa Italia, Rudi Garcia’s side have won at least once against every Serie A team this season, the first time this has happened in the club’s history.
And yet, Roma are still eight points behind Juventus. While Garcia always insists that he will not look further ahead than the next game, this weekend’s match against Catania will very much be in the shadow of the following game, when Roma face the league leaders at the Olimpico.
Garcia has recently been making no secret of his belief that some teams have not been putting in 100% effort against the Bianconeri, and Conte replied by calling Garcia’s comments “provincial”, showing a “lack of respect” and mere “bar talk”.
But both Conte and Juventus director Giuseppe Marotta, who stated “Garcia’s comments were a bit inappropriate”, have missed the Roma coach’s point. Garcia’s issue does not lie with Juventus, but with the mentality of the likes of Livorno president Aldo Spinelli who waved the white flag before Juventus-Livorno earlier this season. “Di Carlo will leave out some big players, the next game against Chievo is the important one for us”, he said. “What can we do against Juventus? We’ll play for safety in the other games”. Livorno unsurprisingly lost against Juventus, and deservedly then lost against Chievo as well.
Given how Garcia has been stressing that teams should play to their best against Juventus and affirming his belief that Sassuolo will play honestly and fairly against the league leaders, it is just as well that Catania coach Maurizio Pellegrino says that the Sicilians will not resort to playing their youth team against Roma this weekend.
Catania’s players were abused by their own fans at the airport after losing last Sunday, but Pellegrino said “if you’re asking me whether I’ll play the Primavera against Roma, I say no – instead the same players from this game must go back into the fray at the Massimino and take the whistles [from the fans]”.
In an effort to fill the stands at the Massimino, Catania have dropped prices for this weekend’s game, with tickets available in the curve for as little as €5. While Juventus may be on the minds of Garcia and the Roma players – and the fixture will certainly be a topic of conversation in the pre- and post-match interviews – the Giallorossi will first have to prepare themselves for the difficult task of coming through this test against Catania. Roma have rarely won at the Massimino either; in 16 games they have only won twice, and not at all since Luis Del Sol scored twice in a 2-1 win in 1970.
To all intents and purposes though, this weekend’s result will make little difference to the ultimate goal. Juventus’ victory against Sassuolo on Monday night means that if they beat Atalanta at home next Monday (where they have won every league game so far), they will win the title regardless of Roma’s result.
Irrespective of this though, Roma will still be going out to win at Catania to keep their faint hopes alive and continue their push to equal the club record winning streak of 11 games set by Luciano Spalletti’s side in 2005/06. Roma will not win the title this season, but after breaking a number of records in Garcia’s first campaign in Italy the club are very much on the right path going forwards.
