We Meet Again: Many parallels as Roma face Celta for just second time

It's a pretty remarkable coincidence: Celta Vigo and Roma have met just once before. It was a friendly on 11 August 2000, in Vigo - almost exactly 17 years before Celta again host the Giallorossi, this time on Sunday 13 August.

That 2000 Roma side – Fabio Capello's Roma – had been built to reclaim the Scudetto for the first time since 8 May 1983. To that purpose, the club had unveiled Gabriel Batistuta to the Giallorossi faithful just a few weeks prior.

'The Lion King', the quintessential centre forward, was one of Roma's most lavish signings ever. And with the same intent, a week before the match against Celta, the club unveiled Gianni Guigou, Walter Samuel, Jonathan Zebina and Emerson, along with returning idol Abel Balbo.

However, the team that took the field for that friendly against Celta was yet to bed in. Having opened pre-season with a run-of-the-mill victory over Austrian outfit Lebring, they then struggled to beat a local XI, were held to a draw by Genclerbirligi of Turkey, lost 1-0 to Real Oviedo and then drew again with Hertha Berlin.

They couldn't muster a win on that August day, either. Marco Delvecchio gave Roma the lead in the second half but Benni McCarthy levelled the scores before the Spaniards triumphed on penalties.

According to La Roma, it was nonetheless a very good draw. “The trip to Vigo provided Roma with plenty of answers,” the magazine wrote. And there was no doubt about who deserved the man-of-the-match award: Eusebio Di Francesco, ahead of the likes of Francesco Totti, Batistuta, Aldair and Vincenzo Montella.

Seventeen years and two days before Celta Vigo and Roma meet again, the current Giallorossi boss was, “the best player on the pitch, despite only playing one half. The Giallorossi turbo bossed the midfield, broke up Celta's moves and often posed a threat going forward too.”

They called him 'turbo' because Di Francesco was everywhere. Because he gave everything for the shirt - for the club he would go on to win the Scudetto with that season.

That was seventeen years after Roma's 1983 Scudetto, of course. Wind on another 17 years and now the turbo has become the Mister - and with it a different perspective as the Giallorossi face Celta for a second time.