An exceptional event that’s sure to please Montreal soccer fans happens on Wednesday, August 3, as legendary Italian club A.S. Roma visits the Impact at 7:30pm EDT at Stade Saputo (TVA Sports, 98,5fm & TSN Radio 690). Here are 10 things to know on the Giallorossi.
Context
After an eventful season – coaching change in January followed by 14 wins, four ties and one defeat, good for third in Serie A –, Roma kicked off its preseason in mid-July under head coach Luciano Spalletti. The team first walked all over semi-professional team AC Pinzolo, winning 16-0, and then defeated Terek Grozny, 3-2. Forward Edin Džeko scored five goals in these two games. Roma then moves on to North America, where it will first take on Liverpool in St. Louis on August 1.
Current form (Serie A and friendlies)
W-W-W-L-W-W
Head coach
Luciano Spalletti returned as A.S. Roma head coach on January 14, 2016, nearly six-and-a-half years after first resigning from that very job in September 2009. An Italian lower-division midfielder in the 1980s and 1990s, Spalletti became a coach in the mid-1990s at Empoli, then in Serie C1. He got the club out of the third division, and Empoli has been yo-yoing between Serie A and Serie B ever since. Spalletti then coached at Sampdoria, Venezia, Udinese and Ancona before taking over the Giallorossi in 2005, after the team finished the 2004-05 season eighth in Serie A. Spalletti led Roma to three second-place finishes in the following three seasons, also winning two Coppa Italia titles and reaching the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals twice. After he resigned, Spalletti became Zenit St. Petersburg head coach in December 2009. There, he won two league titles and a cup before getting the sack, in March 2014.
Top scorer (Serie A 2014-15)
Mohamed Salah (14)
Players to watch
1. Francesco Totti (#10) – Messi, the first great “false nine” of this century? Nah. Totti, rather. Here is Roma’s iron man, the top scorer in club history. Don’t miss this chance to see him in action.
2. Daniele De Rossi (#16) – Another Roma faithful, De Rossi is one of the greatest midfielders of his generation. Italy didn’t lose a game that De Rossi started at this summer’s European Championship.
3. Radja Nainggolan (#4) – A teammate of Laurent Ciman’s with Belgium, Nainggolan is a mainstay of Roma’s midfield and one of the most complete midfielders in the world right now.
Summer 2016 arrivals
D Nura Abdullahi (option exercised, transferred from Spezia)
GK Alisson (transferred from Internacional)
D Norbert Gyömbér (option exercised, transferred from Catania)
D Juan Jesus (on loan from Inter Milan)
D Antonio Rüdiger (option exercised, transferred from Stuttgart)
D Mário Rui (on loan from Empoli)
F Stephan El Shaarawy (option exercised, transferred from Milan)
F Umar Sadiq (option exercised, transferred from Spezia)
Summer 2016 departures
D Leandro Castán (on loan at Sampdoria)
GK Morgan De Sanctis (transferred to Monaco)
F Seydou Doumbia (on loan at Basel)
M Nicola Falasco (on loan at Cesena)
F Iago Falque (on loan at Torino)
F Adem Ljajić (transferred to Torino)
M Miralem Pjanić (transferred to Juventus)
M Matteo Ricci (on loan at Carpi)
F Toni Sanabria (transferred to Real Betis)
D Ervin Zukanović (on loan at Atalanta)
Honours
Serie A: three titles
Most recent: 2000-01; 75 points.
Coppa Italia: nine titles
Most recent: 2007-08; Roma 2-1 Inter
Supercoppa: two titles
Most recent: 2007; Inter 0-1 Roma
Landmark result last season
On February 27, Roma is fourth in the standings, behind third-placed Fiorentina. Luciano Spalletti’s men travel to Empoli, where Spalletti ended his playing days and started coaching. The Romans win 3-1 thanks to an El Shaarawy brace and take over third place – which is where they’ll stay until the end of the season. Two days later, Fiorentina draws 1-1 at home to Napoli, and the Viola finish the season in fifth, 16 points behind third-placed Roma.
Next games
Roma v. Udinese (Serie A, August 21)
Cagliari v. Roma (Serie A, August 28)
Roma v. Sampdoria (Serie A, September 11)
