Scratching The 18 Year Itch

It was a day the Romanista would never forget, June 17th 2001. As the fervent supporters surged on to the field at the Stadio Olimpico they were basking in the glory of their club's first Scudetto since 1983 and just their third overall. 

Get The Party Started: Roma captain Francesco Totti celebrates after opening the scoring in his side's decisive 3-1 win over Parma on the final day of the 2000-01 Serie A season. 

Having had to watch enviously across the Eternal City as Lazio took home the first Scudetto of the 21st century in addition to a comparatively early exit from the Coppa Italia and losing to Leeds in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup, the elusive third title seemed further away from Roma's grasp than ever going in to the 00-01 campaign. What made it worse was the early promise of securing the services of former Scudetto and Champions League winning manager Fabio Capello delivered little resulting in Roma ending the season in sixth place, not even an impressive tally of 18 goals from summer signing Vincenzo Montella was enough to lift Roman spirits. 

Knowing the task at hand, Capello immediately set to work. Argentine defender Walter Samuel was brought in from Boca Juniors and was joined in the defence by Frenchman Jonathan Zebina who arrived from Cagliari. Brazilian international midfielder Emerson was another new arrival following a move from Bayer Leverkusen while Roma's biggest transfer deal was saved for the acquisition of legendary striker Gabriel Batistuta from Fiorentina. 

The season got off to a fairly routine start for Roma as they defeated Bologna 2-0 at the Olimpico and set about winning their opening three games of the season, conceding just one goal in the process although many of the Romanista may have been forgiven for thinking ci risiamo when their winning start to the campaign was abruptly ended via a 2-0 reverse at the San Siro at the hands of Inter. Undeterred, Roma simply dusted themselves down and embarked on a run that saw them avoid defeat for the remainder of the year 2000 including a 1-0 Derby della Capitale victory over reigning champions Lazio in the penultimate game before Christmas. 

Batigol: Gabriel Batistuta continued the fine form that earned him a move to Roma by scoring 20 goals in the league to help his new side to the Scudetto.

Roma suffered just two more defeats during the season as their supporters began to finally believe that the title was making the short trip from Lazio's trophy cabinet to theirs, this being indicative by the fact that the club never dropped from top spot in the Serie A table after the early season defeat to Inter. Despite this, there were still plenty of opportunities for twists in the title race. 

After back to back 2-2 draws against title rivals Lazio and Juventus as the season prepared to reach it's crescendo, the scene was set for a tumultuous finale. Roma moved four points clear of Juve with a 1-1 draw in a bad-tempered clash with AC Milan at the Olimpico which led many to believe that the title was all but sewn up. Roma could have indeed wrapped up the championship on the following Sunday and seemed on course to do so when Francesco Totti put the team 2-1 up seven minutes into the second half against Napoli at the Stadio San Paolo before a late equaliser from Fabio Pecchia threw a monumental spanner into the works especially given the fact Juventus came away from Vicenza with a 3-0 win ensuring the championship race would go down to the final day. 

On a sweltering June day, the Scudetto battle was to reach boiling point. Roma's task was simple, all they had to do was avoid defeat and the title would be theirs. Juventus were reliant on Parma doing them a favour in Rome and spoiling the title party as well as needing to beat Atalanta while Lazio were still just about in the title race but were left needing snookers hoping that both Roma and Juve slipped up. 

Roma's task wasn't an instant gimme, Parma had qualified for the Champions League at the expense of both Milan clubs and were bound to make life difficult for the home side. Nerves were swinging left right and centre and the pressure on Roma was ratcheted up just a notch further when Juve took an early lead at home to Atalanta, thankfully it was one of their own who calmed the waters and got the party off to a flier when captain Francesco Totti slammed home the opener just short of the 20 minute mark, the trophy was in touching distance shortly before half time when Vincenzo Montella calmly sidefooted the rebound home after Gianluigi Buffon had saved Gabriel Batistuta's initial effort. Montella thought he'd put his side 3-0 to the good early in the second half but saw his goal chalked off for a contentious offside but it became academic twelve minutes from time when Batistuta capped off a fine season with his 20th league goal of the season which sealed the deal, Roma were champions and not even a late consolation from Marco di Vaio could dampen the spirits. 

With time ticking away, the Roma fans stormed on to the field of play to celebrate their impending victory although the pitch invasion threatened to dampen affairs, especially given the fact that Roma had a suspended sentence hanging over them for previous crowd trouble, with players being stripped of their shirts, shorts and even boots as supporters tried to claim a souvenir of the championship win, television cameras even showed one supporter who had managed to pinch the matchball! 

The pitch invasion saw a 20 minute delay but once the final whistle blew, it was the final confirmation that it was all over, for the first time in 18 years Roma were champions of Italy. 

In football some times there are few words to sum up the feeling of winning the league with your boyhood club but Totti managed it perfectly: 

'This is a magical moment, I've dreamed of this my whole life'.