Roma pilgrimage

By: Michele | November 3rd, 2008

The original idea for this post was that I would go to Rome and find out what De Rossi means to Rome.
I was all set, had my tickets and booked my hotel when two things happened:

-Daniele was sent off against Genoa, so he wasn’t going to be playing
-and upon arrival in Rome I was informed that only residents of Rome would be able to attend the game.

I was furious. I hadn’t seen any mention of this on the official Roma site (I had read that there was a possibility Atalanta fans would be banned in one article but there had been no follow up).

My plan had been to arrive, buy the ticket and then, for two days, take in the beauty that is Rome but this had all changed.

The plan was now find a ticket.

I managed.
Don’t want to get into how but know it was a long, tiering and desperate two days…
(I didn’t manage to get my friend one but he’s a Tottenham fan so karma you bastard…).

-On a side note one of the Roma store employees was telling me what a stupid idea this ticket ban was. There are lots of tourists who go to Rome and decide to watch an ASR game (as if to prove his point a large group of of German tourists emerged behind me and began asking about tickets at the till) and this was also one of the many occasions the authorities had decided to restrict ticket sales. The result was Roma throwing some much needed money down the drain. Which with the amount of debt the club has run up is a bad idea.-

The game itself stood out (to me) for three reasons:

-the place was emptier than I have ever seen it; only la Curva Sud was full (but to be fair it really was packed).

-the first time new boys Riise and Menez got chants.
Riise got Riiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssssssseeeeehhhhhhhhhhh, Riiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssssssseeeeehhhhhhhhhhh when he went on a dangerous run towards the end of the game (before blasting the ball over the net) and Menez got Meeeeeeneeeeeehhhhhhhhhzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, Meeeeeeneeeeeehhhhhhhhhzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz when he dribbled down the wing and pulled off a few step overs that would make an in-form Mancini blush.

Veteran Panucci won the chant war though with:
‘Undici, undici, vogliamo undici Panucci’ (which means; ‘Eleven, eleven, we want eleven Panucci’s’).
Guess the fans need time to come up with something decent.

-Roma remain undefeated with me in the stadium.
Which makes me ice cold.
’nuff said.

Roma won 2-0 in the end (Panucci and Mirko).

Two days later I was browsing the (very) expensive shops on Via del Corso when I ended p on Piazza del Popollo. Once I got there I was wondering whether or not I should take out a loan and buy a coffee when I noticed a giant yellow and red flag in the corner of the square.
It was a (free!!!!!!!!!!!) AS Roma expo.

After the ticket fiasco my luck was starting to change.
(My camera decided to act up for some of the photos but try and enjoy…).

Poised for greatness.

Trophies:

There was also a shop where you could purchase:

Official jewelery which would set you back between 100 and 150 euros a piece…

and this Philou t-shirt.

I almost did but realized there would be very few places I could wear it without being taunted about my sexuality…

All things considered though I really, really regret not buying it.

All in all a great trip to the Eternal city which culminated in me drunkenly giving a lazio taxi driver a long, long lecture on why rochhi would never be a real bandierra, why their only real potential bandierra left (Nesta) and why they would never win anything.
I’m sure we were overcharged for the ride but I can’t really remember.

Holiday aside I’d like to say congrats to both Mirko and Aquilani for their MOTM performances on Wednesday. Grande raggazzi.

I’ll leave you with some random snaps of Rome:

The king and queen…

La Curva…

Even the garbage trucks are ASR.

Lots of these around the city.

And just in case you didn’t know:

FORZA LUPI

Michele

PS. Sorry its so late I’ve been plagued by bad internet connections but as soon as I set one up Il Danielista is back up…
and its nice to forget what’s happening.