Page 27 - Soccer360 Issue 105

TOP RIGHT:
Roma moved to appoint club legend Daniele De Rossi as coach after sacking Jose Mourinho
THEStephen Kasiewicz looks back at Daniele De Rossi’s playing career with Roma.
DE ROSSI DIARIES
A brief final sojourn at Boca Juniors excluded Daniele De Rossi from a place in the exclusive one player club, yet
his status as a bona fide Roma legend
is unequivocal with only the iconic Francesco Totti playing more games for the Giallorossi. The combative midfielder spent 18 seasons in the Italian capital and made a total of 616 appearances for his hometown club.
De Rossi will rightly be remembered
as one of greatest ever Roma players alongside incomparable forward Totti - who played a staggering 783 times in the yellow and red - and elegant playmaker Giuseppe Giannini.
If success is strictly defined by trophies his Giallorossi career can seem misleadingly unfulfilled. Back-to-back Coppa Italia victories in 2007 and 2008, and a Supercoppa Italiana triumph
in 2007, don’t tell the full story of an inspirational leader.
Fabio Capello gave the versatile midfielder his debut in the season after Roma clinched a memorable third
Serie A title. De Rossi only featured in
a handful of matches in the 2001-02 campaign before becoming a mainstay three seasons later.
The Scudetto proved elusive as the 2006 World Cup winner was part of Roma squads which finished league runners-up no fewer than eight times. Under Claudio Ranieri the capital club were edged out by Inter and placed two points behind Jose Mourinho’s treble winners in the 2009-10 term.
The Rome-born player never played
in the Champions League final, but advanced to the last four of the competition in his penultimate season
at the club, leading by example as Roma mounted an epic comeback to defeat Barcelona on away goals in April 2018 before losing out to Liverpool in the semi-finals. Known for his ferocious
drive and long distance shooting, De Rossi ended a memorable tenure in the capital at the conclusion of the 2018-19 campaign.
“DE ROSSI WON’T
BE FAZED BY THE
HIGHLYPRESSURISED
ENVIRONMENT OR
LOFTY EXPECTATIONS
OF LEADING HIS
HOMETOWN CLUB”
playing at the required standard. However, Roma bounced back to eliminate Bodo
in the quarter-finals and went on to lift the trophy with a single goal win over Feyenoord in Tirana.
Deploying a pragmatic style which prioritised results, the Roma support welcomed silverware over entertainment
as they basked in the club’s second ever European title and immortalized Mourinho in murals across the Italian capital.
Hampered by Financial Fair Play (FFP) restrictions after posting staggering losses estimated at nearly $440 million between 2020 and 2022 the Giallorossi were severely restricted in the transfer market. Yet partly due to the Mourinho effect they were still able to entice Argentine playmaker Paulo Dybala from Juventus and pay his high
wages as the Portuguese coach entered the 2022-23 season.
He remained an incredibly popular figure despite playing a deeply unattractive
brand of football which relied heavily on the individual talents of Italy attacking midfielder Lorenzo Pellegrini, Abraham and Dybala. More European progress followed as Roma again fell way behind the league leaders and placed a disappointing sixth again.
Youth academy products Edoardo Bove
and Nicola Zalewski were handed significant playing time as Mourinho voiced his dissatisfaction at the lack of money to improve the squad. Unable to control his emotions, the former Chelsea, Inter and Real Madrid tactician was given another two-match ban after a sending off in a 2-1
SOCCER360 27