March 5 2008, after securing an amazing and historic 2-1 win against Real Madrid three weeks earlier, the Giallorossi needed just a scoreless draw to qualify for the Champions League quarter-final.
Yet, I Lupi went one step further and comfortably beat the Spanish behemoths 2-1 to fly into the next round.
This was a huge step for a club who had only ever previously reached the quarter-final once before. On that occasion in 2007 Roma came up against Manchester United and stunned the eventual Premier League champions 2-1 in the Stadio Olimpico.
The Giallorossi with the likes of Mancini, Rodrigo Taddei and Francesco Totti, in his prime, were electric in what was arguably the club’s biggest European result since their 6-0 win over Hibernian, which saw them lift their only European trophy, the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1961.
However, despite the Giallorossi besting the Red Devils in Rome, when they travelled to the away leg in Manchester, the pressure destiny weighed so heavily on Roma’s shoulders, that they crippled and crumbled as England’s most successful club pummelled the Italians.
Like on Wednesday night, it was sheer power and bullish quality of Cristiano Ronaldo who mauled the I Lupi defence, scoring twice in what was eventually a 7-1 victory.
A year later, and even after beating a Real Madrid team that included footballing greats like Raul, Guti and World Cup winner Fabio Cannavaro, Roma could still not get past Manchester United, who they unfortunately faced once again.
So why is it that the Giallorossi have such as poisonous, yet at times promising relationship with European competition? One suspects an issue with the club’s mentality is to blame.
Though I Lupi are an important part of Italian football’s history, the second-most successful team in the Coppa Italia, and three-time winners of Serie A, Roma continue to lie about their true status as a club.
In reality the club’s trophy haul depicts a team of the second-class in Europe, yet the club’s supporters, and as a result the club take on an ultimately false big club status.
The club’s inferiority complex becomes especially prominent when the team plays in European competition. Evidence of this almost suicidal doubt has been seen this season in Roma’s 6-1 loss to Barcelona.
Of course going to the Camp Nou and getting a result would have always been hard, made even harder by the fact that this current iteration of Barcelona is arguably one of the best club teams the modern game has ever seen. However, I Lupi lied down and showed no sign of the vicious rabid fight their nickname suggests they would.
Against Real Madrid earlier this week, the Giallorossi were firm in their determination to get a result against Los Blancos, and will probably feel unlucky that they were unable to score against Zinedine Zidane’s side, let alone hold out against the club they dismantled in 2008.
Yet, whilst watching the game, one could not help but feel is was slightly inevitable that it was Spaniards who took the lead and not the sometimes much-maligned Italians.
Moreover, it wouldn’t be a surprise if in the second leg, Roma succumbed to the burden of their European past and get savaged by a Real Madrid team, who despite their clear tactical deficiencies, can be ruthlessly cruel.
So how will I Lupi get out of this never-ending, yet ever-repeating negative spiral of despair in Europe? First Roma have to win Serie A, how can a team master Europe when it continually fails in its domestic surroundings. However, more importantly the club needs to embrace it’s underdog status. The Giallorossi supporters are some of the most demanding in Europe, yet in reality they hold unrealistic expectations of their team.
If the club wants to see more success domestically and it Europe, it must alter it’s mentality, embrace being the plucky underdog and stop wearing a mask of superiority, which the club’s trophy haul simply does not deserve.
If the club continues with this false identity, success will continue to evade it’s increasingly frustrated and burdensome supporters. Should Roma not subsume a new, more realistic appearance, it will be continually be trapped in a cycle of anguish and ferocious despair.
