Roma Sends Ranieri Out a Winner But Falls Short in Champions League Chase

Win, lose, or draw, in the present day’s match towards Torino was all the time meant to check your psychological well being. Getting into Spherical 38, one level behind Juventus for Italy’s fourth and ultimate Champions League spot, Roma had two aims in the present day: defeat Torino to maintain the CL dream alive and hope that lowly Venezia would comply by defeating Juventus, securing one other season in Serie Some time additionally denying the Outdated Woman a spot in subsequent season’s Champions League.

Because of objectives from Leandro Paredes and Alexis Saelemaekers, Roma accomplished the primary activity with ease. Sadly, the second a part of the equation, Juve dropping factors to relegation-battling Venezia, was fully out of their management.

Whereas Roma was busy taking Torino to activity, the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino crowd offered real-time updates on the Venezia-Juve match, erupting into applause each time Venezia took the lead over Juventus and falling eerily silent after they inevitably reclaimed the lead. Nonetheless, it was an sudden but entertaining alliance between two fanbases that may in any other case stand in opposition to at least one one other.

Conserving one eye on the pitch and the opposite on the out-of-town scoreboard made it tough to completely respect how effectively Roma was taking part in. They usually performed exceptionally effectively, surpassing the one-goal mark for the second consecutive match, a milestone they hardly ever achieved throughout their exceptional 19-match unbeaten streak.

Regardless of the frustration of lacking out on the Champions League once more, take a second to contemplate what Claudio Ranieri simply completed. He took over a membership teetering getting ready to the relegation zone in November, spent a couple of weeks settling in and attending to know his gamers earlier than embarking on one of many longest unbeaten streaks in membership historical past, going unbeaten in 21 of his ultimate 22 Serie A matches.

Ending in fifth place, only one *&%ing level away from a Champions League spot, actually stings. Nevertheless, restoring Roma’s confidence, delight, and sense of self-worth was the best reward Claudio Ranieri may have given us.

And for that, Claudio, we’re eternally grateful.

Grazie, Mister!