Roma face the daunting prospect of entertaining European champions Barcelona in the Champions league this week, but the Giallorossi should view it as an opportunity to mix it with the continent’s elite and not merely a matter of damage limitation.
Determining Roma’s greatest European season isn’t hard, in fact it’s far too easy given the size of the club. All you have to do is cast your mind back to 1983-84 when the Giallorossi approached their first season in the European Cup having won their first title since the tournament had been introduced in the mid-1950s.
Back then the team was littered with great players such as Bruno Conti, Agostino Di Bartolomei and Carlo Ancelotti, as the club went all the way to the European Cup final before suffering heartache in the Stadio Olimpico against Liverpool on penalties.
The Giallorossi’s European record ever since does not make for comfortable reading, but being from a large city does not necessarily mean you are a club destined for success, particularly in Roma’s case where you have not even proven yourself domestically.
Three of the most glamorous cities in the entire continent are London, Paris and Rome yet they can only claim one Champions League title among them.
Roma should not go into Europe’s elite competition expecting to find themselves at the Stadio Meazza in May being crowned the new kings of Europe, but nor should they regard themselves as huge underdogs when they square up against any side in the tournament, something that is pertinent ahead of Wednesday’s clash with the Catalan giants.
Perhaps many of the players will still have nightmares about their mauling against Munich, when the German champions traveled to the Stadio Olimpico and put seven goals past a hapless Giallorossi. Or even still, their Manchester massacre when Manchester United triumphed 7-1 in their Champions League quarter-final clash in 2007, despite Roma prevailing 2-1 in the first-leg at the Stadio Olimpico.
Proving yourself at a European level is very difficult, even the former Juventus coach Antonio Conte failed to win over sceptics concerning his record in the Champions League and that was despite his side chewing up and spitting out all that came before them in Italy.
Rudi Garcia has now assembled a squad where progressing from the group stage should not be lauded as an achievement, but instead should be regarded as an expectation. Whilst reigning champions Barcelona are formidable opponents, the Lupi should be able to compete against Bayer Leverkusen and BATE Borisov in a confident manner.
For once the Champions League may seem like the secondary competition to Roma, it’s not every year they are in with a realistic chance of winning the Scudetto, but Garcia has a squad available to him to compete on both fronts. The likes of Borussia Dortmund and Atletico Madrid should serve as an inspiration to the Roma coach that the competition is not simply business as usual for the biggest clubs in Europe, why else has no club been able to retain the trophy under this format?
When Messi, Neymar and Suarez come to the Stadio Olimpico on Wednesday, Roma must not get starstruck and prove that they really belong at this level, otherwise they may end up battered by the Blaugrana.
