In a match with major implications on this season's Serie A title race, Juventus eased to a 2-0 victory over AS Roma. Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring for Juve in the 13th minute before a second-half Ibañez own goal sealed the Giallorossi's loss. Roma's loss not only left them nine points behind league leaders AC Milan; they also fell to fifth in the league and thus in position to miss out on Champions League qualification for the third season in a row.
Over the past few seasons, Roma's greatest moment was undoubtedly their iconic 2018 Champions League quarterfinal comeback to beat Barcelona. However, since then, not a lot has gone right for them. Their subsequent Serie A campaign saw them finish the season in sixth place, their worst league finish in six years. The mid-season firing of head coach Eusebio Di Francesco did not do much to improve the club's performance; his replacement Claudio Ranieri, in his second stint coaching Roma, could not lead them to a top-four spot and a Champions League berth.
The moment that signalled the closing of Roma's window as a genuine Serie A contender didn't directly involve them. In the 2018 Champions League final, Real Madrid beat Liverpool 3-1 with the assistance of an absolutely dismal performance by Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius. This absolute disaster of a performance prompted the Reds to search for a goalkeeper during that offseason; they finally settled on Roma's Alisson. Since then, the Brazilian has established himself as clearly the second-best goalkeeper in the world, only behind Atlético Madrid superstar Jan Oblak. Despite the high transfer fee he commanded, Roma have not even been close to compensating for Alisson's departure at all.
Alisson has not been the only key player to leave the Stadio Olimpico since 2018. During this period, Radja Nainggolan, Kevin Strootman, Kostas Manolas, and Aleksandar Kolarov all left the club. Of course, player departures from Roma cannot be fully covered without mentioning club legend Daniele De Rossi. After 18 years with his hometown club, De Rossi left for Boca Juniors on a free transfer in July 2019. Though already 35 years old and clearly on the decline by then, De Rossi's departure would surely have had a profound psychological impact on the team. The Roma captain provided leadership and stability which no one else at the club could possibly have.
To make matters worse, the career of a possible star in the making might very well have been derailed before the player had his chance to truly blossom. Since January 2020, Nicolò Zaniolo has suffered not one, but two ACL tears. The Tuscany-born attacking midfielder was named Serie A's best young player of the 2018-19 season after a breakout debut league season which saw him establish himself as a player who might someday emerge as Roma's heir to the great Francesco Totti. However, his progression came to a shuddering halt when he tore his right ACL in a league match against Juve. Astonishingly, not long after he return from the devastating injury, he would tear his left ACL in a Nations League match for Italy against the Netherlands. Even at just 21, it is almost certain that due to these injuries, he will never even approach his once-lofty ceiling.
On a related note, Roma's failure to invest in young talent might soon come back to bite them. At the moment, their two best players are 32-year-old Henrikh Mkhitaryan and 34-year-old Edin Džeko. Though Roma will bank on the continued improvement of Cengiz Ünder and Justin Kluivert when they return from their loan spells, it does not seem likely that either will reach the heights needed to lead Roma to a league title or another deep run in the Champions League (of course, they'd first have to make it back into the top four).
Roma's path back to becoming a genuine force in Italy has been made even more difficult not only by Juve's continued domestic excellence, but also by the recent resurgence of both Inter and AC Milan as well as the improvement of city rivals Lazio. A first league title since 2001 seems further away than ever before. Unfortunately, Roma fans could be in for a difficult next few years.
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