Another Roma story gone pear-shape. Whenever you need to raise the bar. That famous leap going to the future. Roma goes back 10 years. The new stadium plans have been erased by the new american owners. Too complicated, bureacratic and no longer cost-effective. Ten years gone in one statement. Another stadium will be built in a different location. We’ll see.
In the meantime on the pitch we have taken a similar direction. Roma unable to step up and beat a direct competitor. Now no longer a competitor. Milan has taken Roma by storm. The first twenty minutes looked like a horror movie, with an Hitchcock finale. We were battered to the floor and if Milan were not up by three goal after twenty minutes it’s only their fault. Then they managed to score one just about when Roma looked back in the game. Mystery.
However, Roma did manage to pick themselves up afterwards, creating some great chances with equalising eventually. And with the game going fairly equal here’s the usual referees to spoil everything. A soft penalty called by the tv people also known as Var, when the ref on the pitch did not think so. So that was it. But then Mancini’s header with Miki’s goal was disallowed for heading and leaning on their defender, while the same ref allowed the same goal to stand in Milan’s favour vs. Verona not so long ago. That goal was scored by Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Differences.
And then, the cherry on the cake. Miki is brought down by Theo, a clear penalty that would give Roma the chance to equalise. The ref thinks otherwise, calling a previous foul that does not exist. Var does not intervene. Ref should go and review it by the same token but he doesn’t. Another farce. Roma were simply robbed.
At the same we cannot deny that Milan were impressive for most of the game, played better than Roma in the 90 minutes and so they are deservedly winners. But in football games aren’t won only because played better. Roma were nevertheless stripped of their entitlement. Denied. Not good enough.
And not good enough the way we played, especially those dreadful 20 minutes. The chase is now over, we are just not equipped to challenge for the league title. We must aim to get a fourth place spot and try to progress in Europe. It won’t be easy, though. Contending with Atalanta, Napoli, Lazio. Ir will be paramount not to fall in despair, as we normally do. Fiorentina next tomorrow night. Tough test. We must pull our socks up and react. Forza Roma.