Roma Club Focus: When Giallorossi Ruled Serie A – A Look At 1983’s Scudetto Triumph

Date: 10th May 2013 at 1:34am
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Thirty years ago this week, on May 8 1983, Roma won their second scudetto with a game to spare as they drew 1-1 at Genoa.

It had been joked until then that Roma had won two scudetti – their first and their last – but the 1982/83 season changed all that, as president Dino Viola, coach Nils Liedholm and his stylish brand of football, and the likes of Agostino Di Bartolomei, Paulo Roberto Falcao and Bruno Conti truly wrote themselves into the club’s history books.

As Luigi Ferrajolo in the Corriere dello Sport describes, “Roma maybe didn’t have the champions of Juventus, but they were a modern team that were ahead of their time. Viola and Liedholm were extraordinary inventors”. Viola had become president of a struggling Roma side in 1979, coupling his ambition with a determination and fervour to succeed.

Within months of taking up the presidency, Viola brought Liedholm back to Roma to deliver on his vision and, in line with the Swede’s wishes, bought Carlo Ancelotti from Parma and brought Bruno Conti back from his loan at Genoa.

After finishing sixth in his first season back, Liedholm led the Giallorossi to second and third before the title-winning campaign. During those years, signings such as Paulo Roberto Falcao, Pietro Vierchowod and Herbert Prohaska were brought in on the basis of their motivation and mental attitudes, rather than being a big name – deals that were often seen with scepticism by the fans.

But by the time of the 82/83 season, the team are described by Roma’s website as being “similar to Guardiola’s Barcelona”, as both sides looked to play a passing game with players in relatively free roles

In front of ever-present keeper Franco Tancredi were, in the typical formation, two attacking full backs in Sebastiano Nela and Aldo Maldera, between whom were the libero Agostino Di Bartolomei and the more physical Pietro Vierchowod. Herbert Prohaska, Carlo Ancelotti and Paulo Roberto Falcao formed a dynamic and elegant midfield three, while Bruno Conti and Maurizio Iorio provided support for ‘il Bomber’ Roberto Pruzzo in attack.

While Lazio struggled towards promotion from Serie B (eventually finishing a point ahead of Cremonese and Como), Roma led Serie A for nearly the entire season. Using Liedholm’s fluid 4-3-3 system, Roma played an attractive passing game that was based on a solid defence.

“Even at that time, [Liedholm’s] training sessions were very technical and he preferred possession football” explains Pierino Prati, who played under the Swede at Roma during the mid 1970s. “We were a truly strong side that played superb football”, added defender Sebastiano Nela, who rampaged up and down the right hand side to devastating effect.

After the opening few games, Roma were setting the pace alongside the likes of unfancied Sampdoria and Pisa, before topping the table on their own after six games, three points ahead of Juventus and Inter (in the days of two points for a win). From there, Roma never looked back.

Although they were beaten by Juventus both home and away and dropped points against the likes of Catanzaro and Avellino, the chasing pack were also taking points off each other. After the turn of the year, Liedholm’s side maintained a gap of at least two or three points on second place. Then, on 1 May, events in Turin virtually sealed the title for Roma.

Before the Derby d’Italia, a Juventus fan threw a brick through a window of the Inter team bus as it entered the Stadio Comunale, injuring Giampiero Marini. While the match carried on as normal, ending 3-3, the game was subsequently awarded 2-0 to Inter. Roma then needed just a point in their next game, and if they couldn’t seal the title in Rome, it was almost right that it was celebrated in Genoa.

Nela and Pruzzo had grown up through its youth ranks to start their careers in the Rossoblu colours, while Conti had spent two seasons on loan with the Grifoni. “Genoa is my city, I grew up there as a footballer and as a man”, Pruzzo said recently. “To win in Genoa was wonderful”.

“The night before the Genoa game we didn’t sleep at all”, Tancredi recalls. “There was an unusual silence at the table on the day of the scudetto. Liedholm wanted a cheerful squad, but we couldn’t wait to get onto the pitch”. Only needing a draw in the Marassi, Roma went ahead through Pruzzo’s looping header from a Di Bartolomei cross.

Though Giuliano Fiorini equalised before half time, the point was enough and the Roma fans invaded the pitch on the final whistle to celebrate with the players and Liedholm. “This title with Roma has been by far the most agonising, and therefore is the most important”, the coach said afterwards.

Not only was Roma’s triumph a historical moment for the club, the coaches of the time believed it was a key moment in the evolution of calcio.

“There’s no doubt that Roma’s scudetto was a very important event”, said Giovanni Trapattoni, coach of runners up Juventus. “Roma’s style was a big talking point. In effect, it was a novelty, even if Italian football had been evolving for many years”.

Former Roma player and Fiorentina coach Giancarlo De Sisti heralded the title as “the victory of a new mentality”, while Pisa coach Luis Vinicio added, “this brings something new to calcio. Roma have achieved this by playing this zonal game that has always been rejected by Italian coaches. In the future people will look back at these technical and tactical experiments”.

Before the Chievo debacle on Tuesday night, the feat of the 1983 champions was commemorated as Sebastiano Nela, Franco Superchi, Paolo Faccini, Odoacre Chierico and Ubaldo Righetti took the applause of the fans in the Stadio Olimpico, while team shirts and the trophy were on show in the penalty area. But as Roma celebrated the achievements of the past, so too must they look to the future.

If, as seems increasingly likely, Aurelio Andreazzoli is not confirmed as the next permanent coach, there is a big decision facing James Pallotta and the management team on who should be his successor. If Italo Zanzi wants to achieve his aim of making Roma the biggest club in the world, the first stepping stone is winning a fourth scudetto. And that, just now, would be an almost impossible task for even the great Liedholm.

 

One response to “Roma Club Focus: When Giallorossi Ruled Serie A – A Look At 1983’s Scudetto Triumph”

  1. Vito Doria says:

    Good article. I rate Liedholm as a great coach. I reckon he revolutionised calcio more than Sacchi. The defence between Sacchi and Liedholm is that Sacchi coached many players who were made champions and they were capable of dominance.

    As talented as Roma were, I don’t think their players were as mentally strong as Milan’s. If Sacchi coached Liedholm’s Roma, I don’t think he would have the same success. Liedholm also laid the foundations for Sacchi’s Milan.