This will be one of the derbies of this round. Roma couldn’t have snet a better invitation to their fans as they not only recorded two triumphs in the league, but they also beat Cluj in the Champions League. Now Roma are knocking on the door of the next stage which is definitely a big feat, especially after the humiliation in the first round against Romanians and two losses in three matches. Last week they easily beat the home side, Lecce, Spalletti definitely changed his tactics, Baptista played up front with the support of Totti and Vucinic. Yellow-red seemed impressive at moments and we will see if they can continue that way against Fiorentina. The loss to Lyon on home ground saw Fiorentina say goodbye to the dreams of Champions League knock-out stage. We have already talked about that and the players admitted it in the end. This team is too inexperienced for the European elite which was obvious in the duels against Bayern and French champions. It is better that they ended eliminated as they can now turn to the championship.

Roma je nakon popodnevnih utakmica u nedelju bila u zoni ispadanja, ali se pobedom u rimskom derbiju ponovo našla iznad davljenika Bologne, Reggine i Chieva. Bila je po pobeda izvojevana srcem, Julio Baptista je postigao zlatni gol i teško je reći da li je “vučica” zaslužila ovaj trijumf. Trener Spalletti tvrdi da je ovo početak novog, mnogo srećnijeg perioda za klub koji je zaista imao košmaran start šampionata. Pobeda nad najvećim rivalom je melem na ranu, ali ako giallorossi ne počnu da pobeđuju i krenu ga gornjoj polovini tabele, neče mnogo vredeti. Lecce je igrao solidno u Genovi ali nije mogao protiv Antonija Cassana. On ih je praktično pobedio a ni dva postignuta gola nisu bila dovoljna da Salentini izbegnu poraz, nakon tri uzastopna remija. Pre dve nedelje su na Via del Mare zaustavili Milan, pa nemaju razloga da se plaše gostiju.

One only has to say ‘Derbi della Capitale’ and everybody will know what he is talking about. The clash between Roma and Lazio is one of the greatest football matches in the World and one of the most famous local derbies. Rome is divided in two and supporting one of the teams is not just a life style but also shows social and class background. The scale of the rivalry could be seen in the fact that Laziali and Romanisti are in the shadow of rich clubs from the North and these teams are rarely fighting for the title. Still, that doesn’t lessen the importance of the match or the passion that makes the Italian capital virtually stop two times a year. The first derby was played in 1929 and even though the Fascist regime with Mussolini wanted to unite these two teams, not even the dictatorship could change the hatred between the teams. It grows year after year and probably neither European derby is followed by such violence like this one. The match has a political connotation as Lazio fans are notorious right wing. On the other hand, Roma gathers the supporters from the hard core of the city, mostly left wing, although this is not so strict.

After the embarrassment in Cagliari, the new owners of Bologna, Mearini family, finally decided to sack coach Arigoni. His team was demolished in Sardinia and Sinisa Mihajlovic was given the hot potato. Former Roma, Lazio and Inter player have been Mancini’s assistant in Inter until recently. He will need a lot of luck in order to help his team stay in the league. The Rossoblu are not a small club, having won 7 league titles, but they failed to make the step from Serie B and they are now paying the price. Mihajlovic could hardly have chosen the worse time to join the club. Their next opponent is Roma, the team that finally returned to winning ways after a disappointing start by beating Chelsea in the Champions League. The fans that were furious after the defeat from Juventus, are now pleased and everybody in the club believes that the win over Chelsea was just a sign of things to come. The first step is away game in Bologna.

It’s been a long time since Roma have been in such a situation. Saturday loss in Torino showed how big is the crisis they are in and although Luciano Spalletti survived on the bench it is not clear how Romans will handle this situation. They are on the wrong side of the standings in Serie A, lost all of the away matches in domestic championship, going on a five-game losing run including the Champions League and few people believe they stand some chance of saving the season. The combination of injuries and poor form of the players caused a terrible start and Roma are on their knees at the moment. Unfortunately the rivals at Olimpico will be Chelsea that after losing to Liverpool ten days ago, fought back by winning Hull and Sunderland which saw the Blues back on top. Still, judging by what we saw Scolari’s side still look like they have the quality for title contention. They want to finish the job in the group quickly and get to the knock-out stage as soon as possible so they can focus on the domestic championship.

This is the derby of the round 10 of Serie A. Juventus finally showed some consistency and returned to the top part of the table with wins over Torino and Bologna. They will try to beat Roma on Saturday night and write off the rivals from the race for the Champions League spot. Maybe it is too soon to talk about Roma dropping from the title race but they lost all away games this season and wasn’t able to show that they will improve and get back on the right track. However, the visitors will try to take advantage of the fact that Juventus has as much as 14 injured players and that Ranieri’s team is bleeding all over the place. Experienced coach rested Del Piero in Bologna but one of the more experienced players, Pavel Nedved stepped up to the plate and scored two goals. That result took some pressure of the team but now more players are injured, which just shows that pre-season was not done in the right way. Roma didn’t play in midweek, or to be true, they played five minutes of the match with Sampdoria, when the match was cancelled due to the downpour of almost biblical proportions. The team saved the strength for this match and that can be the advantage over Juventus.

It is no time for jokes, Roma are in big crisis, greatest since Spalletti is at the helm. Chair(wo)man Sensi kept the team quarantined after four notched defeats, counting the one to Chelsea in Champions League. Spalletti is aware this will be the biggest test for him and that maybe his future in the club depends on the result of this fixture on Wednesday and the one with Juventus on weekend. The game in Udine could be described as outrageous, and they even deserved to lose more than only 3-1. Sampdoria have finally reached their first league win. Belgrade outing against Partizan in Uefa Cup has obviously done them great to regain the confidence, enabling them to seal the win over the underdogs Bologna. Antonio Cassano was the one who made a difference, bringing the best out of his teammates and we’ll see if he can do the same against his former club.

The rivals await this match in completely different atmosphere. Udinese taught Spurs a lesson on Thursday in UEFA Cup and reached their first win in group stage. Friulani won the game pretty easily, which certainly feels good. Udinese are at the top of Serie A, and judging by the play of some of the favourites it isn’t impossible to see them make step up over the last season and repeat the success from few seasons ago when they played in the Champions League. The historical success of bianconeri was the credit of Luciano Spalletti who spent the last three seasons on Roma bench. Since he took over, his side hasn’t played so week as this season. Injuries, poor form of some players, suspensions and not so good signings, all of this cost Romans dearly. They have already lost four Serie A games this season… Last year they lost four in the whole season. This is perhaps the best indicator of how huge is the crisis Roma is in. They are not doing well in Europe either, as they lost to Cluj and Chelsea in the first three games.

Some will say that it is never a good time to face Chelsea, but Roma couldn’t have picked the worst one. Romans are down on their knees after the poor start of the season; they managed to get back on track in Europe after the triumph in Bordeaux, but the disaster against Inter showed how many problems they have. They recorded four wins in the first two months and the best indicator of their weak start are the numbers from the last championship when they also lost four matches but in the wholes season. Chelsea will start this duel after an excellent performance at Riverside, they ran over Boro and sent a clear message to their rivals. Scolari has put things together; the team works great and according to what we have seen they will again be side by side Manchester. After a convincing win over Bordeaux the Blues drew goalless in Romania, missed great many chances so the situation in group A is complicated now as they are level on points with Cluj on top.

Derby of the 7th round as champions Inter arrive at Olimpico. This will be the clash of the teams that had the main role in Serie A after calciopoli. Neroazzuri won two titles, while giallorossi snatched two cups. This of course didn’t satisfy Roma’s ambitions that were greatly damaged last year in their fight for the title. Roman’s were bitter at the situation, as theses sides met in a super cup match that ended 2:2 but Inter got hold of the unimportant trophy after the penalty. Recent history shows that Inter always play better away against Roma. Statistics show that they have gone five years without losing to Roma in Serie A, the situation in the cup is completely different but don’t let that fool you. This is an insignificant competition, and Inter doesn’t care much for the double crown. That is why they can be optimistic before this game. Roma are in a crisis, as they lost three out of six matches and they can’t seem to complete their squad. There are some hints that Totti will start this match, but few other players are suspended.