Roma Review of 2016 Part 6: Primavera win the Scudetto

Jim Pallotta, Roma President: “I think Roma was always known to have a good youth development program and you could see that by the number of players we have around the world of football that came out of our system. I personally feel that we should be spending much more time thinking about players that should stay and play for Roma. I don’t think that’s happened enough in the past but I’m sure that it’s going to happen significantly more in the future in terms of how we do things in our football operations.”

Francesco Vitocolonna, Roma TV: “You could see from the start that it was a good team, despite the fact that many of the players from the previous season were no longer there. The lads showed great character both in the league and the Youth League, where they came within a whisker of getting back into the Final Four in Nyon.”

Alberto De Rossi, Primavera Coach: “In November 2015 we lost back-to-back games and it felt like everything good we'd built up until then was crumbling away. But teams always go through moments like that. We needed to turn the page and get off to a strong start in 2016. When you lose a game, it's important to keep calm and put things in perspective. The players need to be reassured - they need to stay calm and relaxed. That's the only way if you want to be successful.”

“The Primavera are fun to watch. They are not in that jaded position - they are certainly not in the professional sports position. For them, it’s about getting to the big leagues and you can just see the smiles and joy on their faces.”

- Jim Pallotta

Alberto De Rossi: “All the way through the final stage of the competition I had this feeling we would win it – and I felt it even more in the really hard times. There were two moments in particular. In the semi-final, we gave away a penalty in the last minute of normal time and Inter levelled the scores at 1-1.

"A few minutes later we kicked off the first-half of extra time, Inter won the ball and scored to make it 2-1. Then in the final [Riccardo] Marchizza – our usual penalty taker, who hadn't missed a penalty all season – went and missed the spot-kick that could have won it for us. Well, I don't know why but both times I still felt sure we would win it. I just had this calm feeling inside me the whole time. I can't explain it but fortunately I was proven right come the end.”

Francesco Vitocolonna: “Apart from the final against Juventus, the most emotional moment was commentating on the semi-final against Inter. I remember it well: Rome deserved to go through – they were 2-1 up having battled back from a goal down – and seemed to be in no danger. I was already thinking ahead to the final, but in the 90th minute a defensive error let Inter equalise from the penalty spot, then in the first minute of extra time Inter scored again to go 3-2 up. Inside, I thought it was over. But the team amazed us once again by finding the strength to make it 3-3 in the second half.”

Lorenzo Grossi, Primavera player: “On the morning of the final, I remember saying this to my dad: ‘Dad, I have a feeling the game will end 1-1, then we’ll go to penalties and I’ll take the third one’. For the rest of the day, I thought no more about what I’d said; I was firmly focused on the match. We went to extra-time, with the match finishing 1-1 in normal time. I was on the bench. Three minutes before the final whistle, the manager called me over and said he needed me to go on right away. I went quickly over to the touchline, ready for the substitution.

“I only played for one minute and the game was over. The coach came over to me and said he wanted me to carry on warming up, because he wanted me ready for the penalty shootout. At that very moment, I thought back to what I had said to my father and asked if I could take the third one. For a moment, I felt my body shiver, because I knew that everything I had felt that morning could become a reality. It felt like I was living a film that I’d already seen.

“When I went back to the centre circle, we were told who would be taking the penalties. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I wasn’t the third taker but the seventh. It was decided that we’d use the same sequence of penalty takers as we had used in the semi-final win over Inter. In the shootout, we were ahead thanks to a save from [Lorenzo] Crisanto. With the fifth penalty, we were just one step from victory, but [Riccardo] Marchizza shot wide. Then we were back where we’d started. It wasn’t over yet, but there was huge tension among us.”

“The penalty shootout was very tense. I was watching as a fan, but at the same time I had to think about what I was saying and try to stay professional. I’ve known the players since they were young, so it was like watching your son take a penalty every time.”

- Francesco Vitocolonna

Alberto De Rossi: “Before the final, I had to get the balance just right with the team talk. It's like with the senior team - if you place too much or too little responsibility on their shoulders, it can work against you. The lads need to be aware of their ability and you help that by showing them back highlights from the season – that boosts their confidence.

"They need to understand why they've made it that far. Then you remind them that all the teams who have made it that far are great sides and there's only one way to win, which is to play as a team and help each other on the pitch.”

Francesco Vitocolonna: “We scored every spot kick against Inter and were doing well against Juventus too until the fifth penalty, when Marchizza could have handed us the Scudetto. He’d not missed a single penalty all year, so I was feeling confident. He sent the keeper the wrong way and was about to celebrate, so I couldn’t believe it when I saw the ball fly past the post.”

Lorenzo Grossi: “[Claudio] Zappa scored for Juve, then [Alessandro] Bordin scored for us.”

Francesco Vitocolonna: “If I have to pick one penalty that I was most nervous for, I’ll go with Bordin at No. 6. Juventus were in the lead at that point – the match had been turned on his head so there was incredible pressure on him. He stuck it away and I remember myself shouting: ‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’ Before Grossi took his penalty, I was pretty calm – it was our moment again, now or never.”

Lorenzo Grossi: “When the seventh round of spot kicks came around, I felt the entire weight of that final on my shoulders. But Crisanto saved their kick with his feet. Then I felt more relaxed; I knew that my penalty could be the one that won the Scudetto. Approaching the penalty spot, step by step, I only heard the voices of my team-mates behind me, encouraging me, and those of the Giallorossi fans, who’d come all the way to Reggio Emilia to support us.

“I picked up the ball and thought to myself, it’s only a penalty but it could be worth an entire season’s work. There were 11 metres between me and the goalkeeper, behind I could see the Italian flag. I took my position for the run up, I looked at the keeper for a moment, then I kept my eyes on the ball, waiting for the referee’s whistle.

“I wanted to hit the ball hard, but the ball didn’t go well into the corner. The keeper read the ball’s trajectory but it just sneaked under his arm. Before celebrating I stopped for a second, fearful that the ball hadn’t gone in, but when it hit the back of the net I couldn’t contain my joy, running towards the stand where my family was. We were champions of Italy!”

“It wasn’t a perfect penalty but it went in and I could finally let myself go!”

- Francesco Vitocolonna

Lorenzo Grossi: “That night, once the celebrations were over, I couldn’t sleep. I was so hot, as if I had a fever. So, late at night, I went downstairs with my room-mate [Alessio] Romagnoli and spent time with the staff members who were still awake. I couldn’t process all those feelings and it was hard to get my head around what we’d achieved.”

Umberto Gandini, Roma CEO: “We have a fantastic coaching system in place and that has resulted in our U19 team being the reigning champions. We have a very clear structure that allows every single coach to follow the same pattern throughout the ages, producing a large number of players. The problem, very similar to all other clubs in Italy, is that when the players get to the end of their youth career at 19, it is too early for most of them to make the jump to Serie A. Very few of them can do it at that age – at least not at the level we expect at AS Roma. Therefore, we have to loan them out to get experience in smaller clubs. Some others are not ready yet and they go to lower divisions.

“Every year, you produce 10, 12 or 15 players. Maybe one or two of them could be first division professional players. All of the rest are late-bloomers and need more time to grow. This is the problem that we have in the Italian system - we must have a team between the under-19 and the first team. We would like to have either an U21 or a second team that could play in the lower leagues, but under our control - similar to Spain, England and Germany where you could keep control of the players, maintaining their development under your rules and regulations.”

Alberto De Rossi: “2016 has been a great year for our boys making the step up to the first team. Towards the end of 2015 [Edoardo] Soleri made his debut and [Umar] Sadiq exploded onto the scene. Then at Chievo [Lorenzo] Di Livio and [Marco] Tumminello made their debuts. This season Spalletti has given Marchizza a chance too. That game in Verona was a whirlwind of emotions for me. When something like that happens, as an academy coach you look at every detail. You get this inner turmoil because you're there hoping the kid doesn't make a mistake.

“You're both a Roma fan and a fan of the boy himself. Then after the game you feel a sense of professional satisfaction. If the lad has made it that far, you're happy because it means you've done what the club has asked of you, which is to get young players ready for the first team. Seeing a youngster making his first-team debut is brilliant for us, for all the coaches who have helped that boy work his way up through the academy.”

Umberto Gandini: “Today, you could have a very talented player that goes to another club on loan and all of a sudden, he has to go through a different training regime, a different fitness and nutrition program and a different style of football. This definitely creates hurdles throughout the development of the player, but this is the situation we have to face. On the other hand, many circumstances play a role in bringing a 19 or 18-year old kid into the first team.

“We have [Moustapha] Seck now for example in our club, we have [Federico] Ricci and others who are playing at Sassuolo. We have to sell some of them because they need to play and they don’t want to waste time staying at our club and not playing, even if one or two of them could be instrumental for the team. We have to understand that they don’t want to waste the opportunities - they need to play, they need to be seen and they need to be challenged in order to be a professional player for AS Roma. Hopefully, some of them will come back soon and be the backbone of our team.”

Jim Pallotta: “We made a big effort over the last couple of years to restructure, with a ton of input from people who are in Rome and have worked at Roma for a while. For me, the frustration has been that it’s clear that we have a lot of talented people in the football area, but you have to build a process for it. We built that process in the last couple of years with their input and leadership, and now you’re seeing it.

“Not just with the Primavera, but if we go all the way down to our 10 and 12-year-olds, you are just seeing a tremendous amount of structure, process and talent. We were even losing kids in the Lazio Roma region, which is crazy because we weren’t even spending the time in our own neighborhood on it. We are arguably number one or two in the youth program rankings in Italy, and I think we are really just at the beginning of that.”