Serturini 100: 10 of the Key Moments so Far

From the very start of the Roma Women adventure, one player has largely been leading the way, both in performances and statistics: Annamaria Serturini.

The player with the most appearances and most goals for the club so far, Serturini has now represented Roma in 100 matches.

From first competitive game to Champions League qualification, Serturini has been the most consistent presence throughout it all.

The landmark is testament to how the winger has been a pivotal part of the project Roma have been building in women’s football.

There have been many highs and lows along the way, but as the club have progressed, Serturini has been one of the cornerstones throughout.

To acknowledge her achievement of reaching a century of appearances – the first player to do so for the club – this is a look back at 10 important moments across her Roma career so far.

1. Scoring the first goal in team history, despite opening-day defeat
September 2018

Having since raced away as Roma’s record scorer in women’s football, it was fitting looking back that Serturini was responsible for their first competitive goal.

On the opening day of the 2018-19 Serie A season, things had not started as Roma would have wanted, when they fell two goals down to Sassuolo in the first half.

A penalty just before the hour mark gave them a route back into the game – and it was Serturini to step up and score with a powerful effort into the bottom corner.

Unfortunately, Roma could not build from that and conceded again, before reducing the deficit once more in what finished as a 3-2 defeat.

Serturini had done her job, but there were many lessons to learn.

2. Double braces in the same season against Chievo
November 2018 and March 2019

After a relatively tough start, the side began finding their feet in the league. For example, on the seventh matchday, they recorded what was for a long time their biggest league win (which wasn’t surpassed until Serturini’s 100th appearance itself).

On this occasion, they swept aside Chievo in a 7-1 victory, within which Serturini became the first player to score a brace for Roma Women.

Her first effort that day was a sharp control and finish across goal from the left-hand side of the box – the kind of territory from which she would score many more times within her Roma career, almost habitually.

Her second was a well-worked effort in which she took a few intricate touches in the box to find an inviting shooting angle, before picking out the right-hand corner.

A couple of weeks later, Serturini was recognised as the AIC Player of the Month, showing how her progress was becoming noticeable.

Coincidentally, Serturini would also score a brace in the return fixture against the same opponents – this time a 5-0 win – which also happened to be the day on which she reached double figures of goals for the club.

Once again, her first goal came from the left wing; she sidefooted the ball across goal calmly in, displaying the composure of a young goalscorer increasing in confidence.

And her second also came from the left, but was even more emphatic. Shifting her angle to get the ball out of her feet from the corner of the penalty area, she proceeded to curl it into the far top corner.

By this point, Roma were well on track for a fourth-placed finish, which represented a good benchmark to set from their debut Serie A season.

3. Making international strides with Italy
January to June 2019

In turn, some of their players were being noticed by their respective national selectors ahead of a World Cup year.

Having previously been given her first steps in club football by Milena Bertolini at Brescia, Serturini was acknowledged again by the same guide to become a full Italy international after impressing in her first Roma season.

Her first senior Italy call-up came in time for January 2019, when she debuted as a substitute against Chile. She would subsequently be involved in that March’s Cyprus Cup, which the Azzurre lost the final of on penalties (despite her scoring with her own effort).

A few months later, Serturini got the call that most players can only dream of. After her debut season with Roma ended with a career-best 13 goals from 27 games, she was selected in the Italy squad for the 2019 Women’s World Cup.

One of three Roma players to feature in the squad, along with original first-choice goalkeeper Rosalia Pipitone and club captain Elisa Bartoli, Serturini was the youngest player called upon by Bertolini.

As such, she didn’t have a particularly significant role to play in the tournament, but did make one appearance in the knockout stages. Losing 2-0 to the Netherlands in the quarter-finals, though, Italy’s involvement ended there.

That said, Serturini was establishing herself for her country and there would be time yet for her to grow more accustomed to the bigger stage. By the time of her 100th appearance for Roma, she had 18 caps for Italy in total.

There was a lot more to come for Serturini at this stage. After the brief but significant World Cup cameo, it was time for her to focus her mind on what was promising to be a better second season at Roma.

4. Goal from outside the box against Fiorentina
September 2019

One of Serturini’s favourite opponents over the years has been Fiorentina; she has scored against them five times in a Roma shirt.

The first of those came in September 2019, in a game that was something of a watershed moment for the team as a whole.

During their debut season, Roma had failed to beat any of the sides that finished above them. However, that changed when they claimed a 2-0 win away at Fiorentina – the previous year’s runners up – in the second match of their second season.

It was Serturini who opened the scoring – and in some style, getting off the mark for the season with an effort from outside the box.

Receiving the ball in a central attacking midfield position, Serturini had space in front of her. But only needing a couple of touches to set herself up, she sent a strike goalward with the perfect trajectory to float over the goalkeeper and into the top corner.

One of the longest-range finishes from a Roma Women player ever seen, it became an early contender for goal of the season; indeed, nothing would top it that term, in which an in-form Roma were fourth again by the time things came to a premature halt due to the pandemic.

5. Four-game scoring streakOctober to November 2020

Arguably Serturini’s best spell of sustained form was between October and November 2020, when she scored in four consecutive matches – which, at the time, no other Roma Women player had done before (Andressa Alves and Emilie Haavi have both since).

It began with a goal in a 2-0 win over Hellas Verona and continued with the opener in a 1-1 draw with Inter Milan. But the second half of the scoring streak was particularly dramatic.

Next, she scored a late winner in the 88th minute of a 3-2 triumph over San Marino, after Paloma Lazaro had twice put the side ahead only to be cancelled out each time.

Having snuck into a pocket of space on the left-hand side of the box, Serturini received an instinctive assist from Alice Corelli. Despite a slightly heavy first touch, she reacted quickly and caught up with the ball in the middle of the box, before firing back into the bottom left corner. The pressure had been on, but she delivered.

At the time, it was the second-latest winning goal Roma had ever scored in Serie A Femminile, showing the mental fortitude Serturini and her teammates were developing.

Finally, after a two-week break, Serturini picked up from where she left off to conclude the scoring run with a long-distance strike against those favourite foes, Fiorentina.

Having assisted the first goal too, she put Roma ahead for the first time in the encounter, although it would end as a 2-2 draw. That said, the sublime goal she scored would last longer in the memory through highlight reels than the result itself.

6. Scoring only goal in a 4-1 defeat to Juventus that became a turning point
December 2020

For all the progress Roma were making, there were still question marks about how they could close the gap with the teams above them – especially in direct encounters.

One significant experience came in their final Serie A match of 2020, which they lost 4-1 to Juventus. Although the scoreline suggested a comprehensive defeat, Roma weren’t actually that far off the side who had been dominating Italian football for as long as the Giallorosse had been involved in it.

Some of the goals conceded came from simple errors – particularly from set pieces – which Roma would iron out to become more competitive after the turn of the year. Indeed, they have not conceded four goals in a single game since then.

It means that while Serturini scoring on that day represented a consolation, in future goals against opponents of that calibre would hold more weight – as she would come to find out later that same season.

7. Memorable goal and two assists in the first leg of a Coppa Italia game against Florentia
January 2021

By the beginning of 2021, a year which started with a hard-fought, extra-time defeat to Juventus in the Supercoppa Italiana semi-final (showing that instant progress against top opponents), Roma had become a team ready to compete for trophies. It would culminate in success in the Coppa Italia, but there were several steps along the way that the team had to take.

After comfortably getting out of a Covid-disrupted group stage, Roma were paired with Florentia for the quarter-final. Serturini would score in both legs, but it was in the first fixture that she maximised her impact.

Not only did she record two assists, but she also scored Roma’s third goal of a 4-0 win after a run from the half-way line led to a finish.

After the ball was nodded down to her in the centre circle, Serturini charged towards goal, bypassing the last defender with ease before side-footing the ball into the middle of the net.

Roma’s first result of the Coppa Italia knockout stages was a positive one, and the subsequent 6-1 home win would book their place in the last four.

8. Scoring after two minutes against Juventus in the Coppa Italia semi-final
March 2021

As the magnitude of challenge increased on the Coppa Italia run, Roma may have been feeling the pressure ahead of a two-legged semi-final against Juventus.

But they showed how much they were up for it by starting in the best fashion, with a goal scored inside 90 seconds – by none other than Serturini.

After being teed up at close range, she finished first time with an instinctive effort.

Juventus would equalise early in the second half, only for Roma to score again with two minutes left – this time via Lindsey Thomas – to secure a memorable first win over the league champions.

After the game, Serturini revealed how a conversation with captain Bartoli, who missed that game through injury, had motivated one of her most important accomplishments yet.

“Elisa spoke to me yesterday; she told me how much she was counting on me, it really fired me up,” said Serturini.

“Scoring so quickly against Juve is hard to describe.”

9. Scoring a penalty in the Coppa Italia final shootout
May 2021

If that was hard to describe, then the emotions of winning the final itself were even bigger. Having won the Coppa Italia before with Brescia when still a teenager, a more senior Serturini played a significant part in helping Roma to their first trophy.

Serturini was involved for all two hours of a gruelling final that saw neither Roma nor Milan manage to score even after extra time. The Coppa Italia would be decided by penalties.

After Manuela Giugliano had scored first, Serturini took Roma’s second spot kick. Only taking a short run up, her confidence was high – and it showed with her finish, whereby she wrongfooted the keeper and sent the ball in towards the corner of the goal.

Since Camelia Ceasar had already saved one Milan effort, it increased Roma’s stronghold on the early developments of the shootout. Thanks to a couple more Milan misses, only one more of Serturini’s teammates would have to score for them to win by the time their fourth effort came around.

It was Vanessa Bernauer – another player to have been there from the start of the Roma Women journey – who successfully executed that task to ensure that Betty Bavagnoli’s side ended their third season with their first trophy.

10. Celebrating becoming the first player to reach 100 appearances by qualifying for the UWCL
May 2022

Since then, Serturini has been adapting her game further under a different head coach, Alessandro Spugna. His tactics have often seen Serturini switch to a wing-back role, from which she has still been effective, while sometimes allowing her to flourish further forward too.

During the 2021-22 season, Roma reached the landmark of 100 competitive games as a club – and their leading appearance maker wasn’t far behind.

Serturini brought up her century in the club’s 104th game, playing from the first minute against Sampdoria in the final home match of the campaign.

And it was a significant one too, as Roma secured their first-ever second-place finish in Serie A – enough for them to qualify for the Women’s Champions League.

Naturally, it was none other than Serturini who scored the opening goal, before she also set up the second for Valeria Pirone.

Those goals set the foundations for what would become the club’s biggest ever win, by an 8-0 margin.

For her goal, Serturini latched on to a lay-off from Lazaro before taking aim with a first-time strike. The connection was not easy, but she made it look that way, sending the ball into the top corner. Roma were on their way – and later that day, they would be celebrating Champions League status.

After four years, Roma had arrived at their long-desired objective.

Serturini, their first ever centurion, has been instrumental along that whole journey.

Follow Samuel Bannister on Twitter here: @SamBanno1