Roma need to bring back the aeroplane after another Champions League debacle

Paddy Agnew looks into the effect another Champions League humiliation could have on Roma.

“We were in the game right up to the moment the ref. blew for the kick-off”.

We all know that fan humour can be especially cruel but the above “tweet” was just one of many from Italian fans in response to Barcelona’s 6-1 thrashing of AS Roma at the Camp Nou on Tuesday night. Other gems, admittedly in questionable taste given the current post-Paris international moment, included:

“11 people have been taken hostage by Barcelona at the Camp Nou tonight” and “A suspect package has been found in the Barcelona midfield tonight, it is believed to be a Roma player”.

The problem about this week’s “disaster” is that we’ve already been there, in both the distant and most recent past. For example, this season Roma have already conceded 31 goals, 15 in 13 Serie A games and a whacking 16 in just five Champions League encounters.

That is the current story but history also reminds us that this is Roma’s third Champions League “humiliation” in the last decade.

Back in 2007, there was that total 7-1 Old Trafford drubbing at the hands of Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United. If you could argue that Luciano Spalletti’s team were short of highest level experience back in 2007, the same could hardly be said of them this time last season when they crashed out by an identical 7-1 scoreline at home to Bayern Munich.

The point, too, is that Roma, having made a bright seasonal start last year, never really recovered from the damaging psychological impact of that defeat. Soon out of both the Champions League and the Europa League (eliminated by Fiorentina), Roma limped home in second place in the Serie A championship all of 17 points behind Juventus.

Will this latest debacle wreak the same havoc? At least this time, Roma find themselves in the astonishing situation where if they beat Belorussian side BATE Borisov in their last group game, then they will go through to the knockout stages.

Better still, Roma know that in the next round the one side against which they cannot be drawn is Barcelona (having played them in their group).

Maybe qualification for the second round will help Roma get back on their feet. One is tempted to add that it might help even more if somebody at Roma decided to concentrate on coaching the defence.

Former Serie A coach, Serse Cosmi, is one of those who argues that not all is lost for Roma, pointing to the current example of Napoli as the way forward.

Cosmi argues that current Napoli coach, Maurizio Sarri, has stabilised the leaky defence he inherited from Spaniard Rafa Benitez, basically thanks only to intensive and intelligent coaching. Could the same be done for Roma?

Summarising the Barca-Roma game for Italian TV, former Inter and Juventus striker Aldo Serena repeatedly stated that the Roma defence needed some very straightforward coaching, of the sort that would ensure the synchronised movements that are essential at this level. Perhaps he had a point.

In the meantime, Rudi Garcia continues to have a miserable Champions League record with Roma, having played 25, lost 13, drawn seven and won just five, in the process scoring 31 goals and conceding 50.

What was curious about Roma’s miserable performance, too, is that they showed none of the cautious, dour stuff with which they held Barca to a 1-1 draw in the reverse game in Rome last September.

The fact that arugably their most charismatic, current first-team player, namely Daniele De Rossi, was ruled out through injury last Tuesday explains some but by no means all of the Roma debacle.

Certainly, De Rossi’s true grit would have been most welcome but on his own, with seemingly dispirited team-mates all around him, he would have faced a mission impossible.

The manner in which Roma’s experienced Brazilian defender Maicon publicly decried his own team’s attitude after the game would suggest that this was most definitely one game where the biggest mistakes concerned Roma’s mental preparations rather than any selection or tactical errors.

Perhaps before going to Barcelona this week, Garcia and his players should have studied the defensive masterclass that Josè Mourinho’s Inter Milan produced at the Camp Nou in April 2010, securing a 1-0 Champions League semi-final, second leg defeat that put them into the final, eventually won against Bayern Munich.

On the eve of that final against Bayern, a British reporter criticised Mourinho arguing that he had “parked the team bus” in the Inter penalty area during that semi-final. To the which, a smiling Mourinho replied: “That was no bus, that was an aeroplane…”

Bring back the “aeroplane”, say the Roma fans.