Roma - Juventus: A Historical Look
Finally, the Giallorossi and the Bianconeri once again have a chance to face off, following a one year break due to the calciopoli scandal that sent Juventus to Serie B.
The Roma-Juventus rivalry is one of the most lasting and bitter in the whole of Italian football. Some Roma fans even think that their sworn enemy is not Lazio, but Juve, while the Old Lady supporters have far too many rivalries going on: maybe for them Roma is not on top of the list, but it’s definitely in the top five.
It all started back in the Thirties, when a famous 5-0 Roma win at old Campo Testaccio (the “grandfather” of Olimpico) was so notorious that it even inspired a movie!
Until the start of the Second World War both teams were in the top flight, but in the postwar era, Roma lost a bit of their lustre and even spent some time outside the top flight, so what few derbies took place were often predictable.
In the eighties, the Giallorossi had a much-awaited revival, thanks to president Dino Viola, Swedish manager Niels Liedholm and Brazilian star Paulo Roberto Falcao. They had such a cracking side in 1980-81 they nearly overcame a very strong Juventus outfit in the quest for Scudetto.
The Bianconeri, lead by gaffer Giovanni Trapattoni, won by a narrow margin. That said, that season will always be remembered for the Turone affair.
Turone, a rocky Roma defender, scored an apparently vital goal in the clash between the two teams just two games from the end of the season, Juventus being on top of the table but the gap with Roma being only one point.
Referee Bergamo – later on appointed designator and even involved in last year's scandal – disallowed it for offside, but the TV pictures showed that was quite a big mistake.
Roma recriminated about that missed opportunity to beat Juventus on their home ground and probably win the league. There were endless arguments between President Viola and his counterpart Giampiero Boniperti, a real Juventus legend and possibly the very last to embody the so called “Juventus style”.
A couple of seasons later, though, they had revenge.
Roma finally won the League after a 41 year drought, even though the Bianconeri could field a plethora of world champions - Cabrini, Gentile, Rossi, Tardelli and Zoff had just won the ultimate football trophy, beating West Germany in Madrid in July 1982. They even had two truly world class stars: Boniek and especially le Roi Michel (I’m referring to Platini, for those young of age.)
But even then, Juventus recorded a famous win at Olimpico, as a perfect Paltini’s free kick and a glorious header by defender Brio secured a 2-1 victory in front of some 80,000 shocked Roma fans. The rivalry of the Eighties had just started.
In 1983-84 Juventus regained the title, even though the two face-to-face matches ended in as many draws, the one in Turin enhanced by an astonishing last minute goal by prolific striker Roberto Pruzzo. His terrific bicycle kick which made it 2-2 is one of the best goals of that decade - along with a few Platini’s masterpieces.
Polish star Boniek moved to Roma in July 1985 and he was part of the “unfinished” team which just squandered its chance to regain the title. They lost to rock bottom team Lecce when everybody thought they were about to overcome Juventus, right after closing a nine points gap (please bear in mind that, at that time, in Italy a win was worth only two points).
But before the “Lecce tragedy”, as it was labeled by the tifosi and the press, they managed to thrash Juventus 3-0 at Olimpico, playing a perfect game and taking their revenge after a 3-1 defeat at the old Comunale in the first game.
Eriksson was sitting on Roma bench. I know you would not believe me, but Roma played in a very offensive way thanks to the Swedish manager's game plan! After that unbelievable season, though, the matchesbetween the two sides proved never to be decisive for the title, as both teams were overshadowed by some impressive Milan and Napoli sides.
Despite that, Juventus fans will never forget an awesome 5-0 win over Roma in 1990, when Schillaci had one of his few glory days wearing the Bianconeri shirt and scored a hatrick in a very turbulent game, as Roma’s Nela and Juventus Julio Cesar and Di Canio were all sent off.
What the Old Lady fans tend to forget, and I can’t blame them, is the name of their coach during that season: Gigi Maifredi. He could employ Roberto Baggio, nonetheless he “managed” to keep Juve out of the European competitions for the first time in ages.
In 1994-95 Juventus flourished again. Baggio had to fight to find a place in the starting eleven as, up front, Vialli, Ravanelli and a rising star called Del Piero were battling to impress an ambitious coach called Marcello Lippi. Roma were doing quite well and had a youngster like Totti surely on the rise, so they made the trip to Turin without any fear.
They lost 3-0 with yet another strange episode linked to that match. While throwing the ball in, Roma defender Aldair had the ball slightly touched by the lineman, who was standing right behind the Brazilian player. The deflection favored Ravanelli, who scored the opener. Let’s say bemused Roma players and fans were not very happy with the referee decision to award the goal and that the press, inevitably, made another incredible fuss about that.
After a few more defeats and controversies Roma took the ultimate revenge in 2001. They won the league, the 2-2 draw in Turin proving instrumental in that success. And what a match it was: they almost immediately had gone 2-0 down. Some 15 minutes to go and Roma were still losing, but then Nakata and Montella (in the last minute!) made it 2-2 with the kind support ofthe hapless van der Sar in goal.
After that season Juventus won a couple of Scudetti, but the end of the Lippi era was marked by a gruesome 4-0 defeat in Rome in February 2004. Talentino Cassano played one of the best games of his career, scoring a brace. That seems quite a distant memory now, doesn’t it?
2004/05 was a disappointing campaign for Roma as they nearly were relegated to Serie B. They lost both games played with Juventus, 2-0 in Turin and 2-1 in Rome, those defeats being even more frustrating for the Giallorossi people as former idols Capello, Emerson and Zebina were under contract for Juventus.
Actually the Olimpico clash is one of the matches the Neapolitan magistrates investigating on the Calciopoli scandal singled out for being “pre-arranged”, but we stil have to wait a final penal verdict on that story.
The last game held at the Olimpico finished with Juventus hammering the first version of Spalleti's Roma, clearly a work in progress. Ibrahimovic and Trezeguet made a fool of the Giallorossi defenders just to seal a famous 4-1 victory. Now Roma are favorites and Juventus are the underdogs.
Will this situation last for long? A true Giallorossi fan like Claudio Ranieri doesn’t hope so…
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