Year in Review: The Top 5 Roma Women performers of 2021!

The year of 2021 has been a memorable one for Roma Women, for a variety of reasons and thanks to a range of influences.

A strong second half of the 2020-21 season culminated in the club’s first ever trophy, as a collective effort led to victory in the Coppa Italia.

Then, after some changes on and off the field over the summer, there have been signs of gradual progress in the formative months of a new era.

Despite it being a year of transition on the whole, several players have maintained their standards across the full calendar year, ensuring a positive end to the previous campaign and solid foundations for the current one.

Here are five of the players who reached the highest individual standards for Roma in 2021.

ELENA LINARI

It would be no exaggeration to describe the impact of Elena Linari after her January 2021 arrival at Roma as completely transformative.

The Italy international provided a new level of seniority to the Roma backline, exuding confidence and frequently ensuring the evasion of danger.

Almost immediately after she joined, Roma’s results became much more consistent. Indeed, her debut came in the third game of a seven-match winning run that represented the team’s longest ever streak of victories. Roma kept clean sheets in four of the five games she featured in during that spell.

After a difficult stint in France with Bordeaux, it would have been reasonable to expect Linari to take time to settle into her new surroundings. But back in the familiarity of Serie A, she almost instantly established herself again.

Now one of the first names on the teamsheet, Linari is a leader for Roma and has inspired those around her to elevate the standards of the whole side.

Naturally, she has had the trust of both coaches to have led Roma in 2021, Betty Bavagnoli and Alessandro Spugna. All the responsibilities she has on the pitch have been earned through her dedication and inspirational ability.

ALLYSON SWABY

When Linari’s move to Roma was confirmed almost 12 months ago, it prompted the question of whose place she would take in the starting lineup.

At that stage, Allyson Swaby and Tecla Pettenuzzo had formed a fairly reliable partnership, which was about to be broken up. There did not seem to be much between them, so Bavagnoli had a tough call to make.

Pettenuzzo remains a useful option – especially for the future, not forgetting she is only 22 and that Swaby is about to leave the club – but it was the Jamaica international who got the vote of confidence and she never looked back.

Swaby enjoyed a memorable 2021, reinforcing her status as Linari’s main defensive partner and continuing the path of growth she has followed since joining the club a few months after their formation.

Swaby passed the landmark of 50 appearances for Roma in March and by the end of the year, only two players have ever started more games for the club than her.

It was Swaby who scored the first Roma goal of 2021, when she found herself in unusual territory during the Supercoppa semi-final, extra-time loss to Juventus. But as the year progressed, she cemented her reputation at the other end of the pitch, where she is more accustomed to being.

By the end of her time with the club, Swaby has become a reliable rock at the back for Roma, no doubt helped by the slightly more senior presence of Linari – whose experience has been much more grounded in Italian football – but also of her own merit.

Together, they formed the foundations of Roma’s progress over the past 12 months.

CAMELIA CEASAR

Roma would not have been able to win the Coppa Italia without some key individuals stepping up – and when it mattered most, none did so more than goalkeeper Camelia Ceasar.

The Romanian shot-stopper was influential in the final against her former side AC Milan, especially in the penalty shootout in which she made two saves.

She was the standout player of that decisive match, thus helping her team make history, but she also impressed throughout the entire year.

Despite Rachele Baldi arriving to provide competition in the summer of 2020, Ceasar has reinforced her role as the club’s number one, starting all but three of Roma’s Serie A games in 2021 – including every league match so far this season.

Ceasar kept 10 clean sheets in all competitions across the year, including eight from her 20 league appearances.

Roma have a number one they know they can rely on and Ceasar has given them all the evidence they need in a year in which she has been a protagonist.

ANDRESSA ALVES

Roma’s top goalscorer of this calendar year or any other was Andressa Alves, who found the net 11 times in all competitions – thus accounting for more than half of her overall tally for the club since her 2019 arrival.

Andressa started the year in fine form, setting a record for the highest consecutive number of games in which a Roma Women player has scored. Between January and February, she scored in six matches in a row – including a hat-trick in the Coppa Italia against Roma CF.

As stated earlier, the winter arrival of Linari was a key factor in Roma’s fortunes improving after the turn of the year. But perhaps the influence of Andressa at the other end was significant in equal measure.

While such standards in front of goal are not sustainable for an entire calendar year – certainly not for someone who isn’t a striker – Andressa has remained influential.

Using her experience and intelligence, the Brazilian has been central to how Roma have constructed their play across different coaching regimes and tactical setups.

She leads by example in the midfield and attacking areas and has always been a source of inspiration, to the extent that Roma won every game in which she scored during the year.

ANNAMARIA SERTURINI

Having led the way in the club’s goalscoring records practically from the beginning, it can sometimes become easy to take Annamaria Serturini’s dependability in front of goal for granted.

With the impressive rate at which she has been scoring in 2021, it has been impossible to overlook just how good she has been.

Ask anyone to describe a typical Serturini goal and the responses would likely follow a similar theme: she receives the ball on the left wing, cuts inside and finishes with pinpoint accuracy.

It has been a common sight throughout the year, but she has also broadened her repertoire with other techniques such as her run from the half-way line and finish against Florentia in the Coppa Italia in January, cushioned aerial finish against Fiorentina in April or half-volley against the same opponent in November.

Whatever the method, Serturini’s ability and reliability can never be in doubt. She is a figurehead for Roma as their most-used player of all time, and the fact that she committed her long-term future to the club in July was a hugely important piece of business.

Is it too soon to describe someone as a club legend when this is just the fourth season in the setup’s history? Perhaps, but whenever the time comes to consider who may be in that category, Serturini’s name will immediately spring to mind.

And 2021 has been one of her best years.

Follow Samuel Bannister on Twitter: @SamBanno1

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect those of the club and/or its staff.