Road to Tirana: Five Key Moments on the Way to the Final!

Next week sees Roma travel to Tirana, with their sights set on beating Dutch outfit Feyenoord to claim a first major European trophy in their history.

Here, we reflect on the Giallorossi's journey to Albania's capital city - as a Europa Conference League campaign littered with Tammy Abraham goals, Rui Patricio saves, surprising lows and resounding highs heads inexorably towards its dramatic conclusion.

Starting as you mean to go on...

Roma's season started with a trip to the Black Sea and Trabzon all the way back in August last year.

That's where Jose Mourinho took charge of the club for the first time, against a Trabzonspor side that went on to become runaway champions of Turkey this term.

The Italians were dismissive of their Turkish hosts, however, claiming a 2-1 first-leg win at the Medical Park Stadium thanks to goals from captain Lorenzo Pellegrini and debutant Eldor Shomurodov.

A 3-0 victory at the Stadio Olimpico - that saw Nicolo Zaniolo score his first goal in over a year after injury problems - in the return leg was even more emphatic, setting Roma on course for the group stages of the Europa Conference League and, eventually, the final.

"I hope that tonight is the start of a new chapter," Zaniolo beamed after the game and both he and the club have been page-turners ever since.

Group stage works out alright on the night...

Roma won their first two matches in Group C before defeat - we'll get back to that in a moment - and a draw to Bodo/Glimt left them a point back from the Norwegians with two games to go.

Both sides claimed victory on Matchday five - the Giallorossi hitting four past Zorya, while Bodo got the better of CSKA Sofia - meaning that they went into the final group game with Bodo leading Roma by 11 points to 10.

With second-place dropping into the playoffs to meet teams dropping down from the Europa League, top spot brought with it the guarantee of reaching the knockout stages.

Going into the trip to Sofia, Mourinho said it would be a "dream" to win the tournament's first edition and highlighted the significance of avoiding a playoff against UEL opposition.

“In 2004 I had the dream of winning the Champions League," he said. "Now I dream of winning the Conference League... Winning the first edition would be historic."

A 3-2 win in Bulgaria, paired with Bodo's draw in Zaporizhzhia, saw Roma claim top spot, much to the delight of their boss.

“For us it was really, really important," said Mourinho of dodging two extra playoff matches.

"Two extra games in February would have been something we could absolutely have done without.”

From the Battering in Bodo to Redemption in Rome

Rather gleeful headlines described Roma's "embarrassment" and "humiliation" in the club's 6-1 loss at Bodo/Glimt on Matchday 3 of Group C.

That defeat coincided with Mourinho making a number of changes to his team as the Portuguese tactician tried to balance European duties that were sandwiched by a trip to Juventus and the hosting of a then-rampant Napoli - who went on to drop their first points of the season at the Olimpico - in the league.

Following a 2-2 draw with Bodo in the reverse, there was an inevitability about Roma then drawing the Norwegians - who had safely negotiated a tricky tie with eventual Scottish champions Celtic in the aforementioned playoffs - in the quarter-finals.

A tempestuous 2-1 defeat in the first-leg threatened to see Roma's journey brought to an end but the club responded in cinematic fashion as a raucous home support turned the Olimpico into a cauldron for the second meeting.

With the Curva Sud draped in a club badge tifo and the Olimpico in full voice, Roma's players responded with a dominant 4-0 win over Bodo, as a Zaniolo hat-trick and Tammy Abraham effort emphatically put to bed their Nordland nightmare with possibly the best performance under Mourinho so far.

"No snowballs in Rome," Abraham joked on Instagram afterwards.

"Semi-finals here we come!!”

The Tammy Effect and Fortress Olimpico

The Olimpico's reliability in Europe is remarkable and Roma have won four and drawn twice in six unbeaten matches on home soil in the Europa Conference League this term.

Their continental home form goes beyond 2021-22 and it's now 19 games since they last tasted defeat in a UEFA competition (W13, D6).

If that home form has been the backbone of the campaign, then the efforts of Tammy Abraham in front of goal have been the pristine-looking face of Roma's run to the final.

Abraham has nine goals in 13 UECL appearances - six of which have been delivered in Rome and one of those games was in the initial qualifier - this term and, having made the move from England last summer, the 24-year-old was given the perfect platform to showcase his considerable development in yellow and red when the team drew Leicester City in the semis.

"This is my game to show what I've come away to Italy to learn," said Abraham ahead of return to the UK.

He may not have found the back of the net at Leicester, but his performance in the 1-1 draw was full of spirit and Abraham would have his moment in the sun a week later as 'Tammy Tre Punti' powered home the only goal of the game and punched Roma's ticket to Albania in the process.

The New Boys - And the Experienced Leaders

Abraham's nine strikes put him second on the competition's top-scorer list - three clear of third and one back from Feyenoord striker Cyriel Dessers in first.

It's some return from the Londoner in his first season with Roma and it's reflective of a wider impact had on the tournament from new additions made both last summer and in the winter transfer window, as well as regular big performances from existing figures such as Pellegrini and Zaniolo.

Of the fresher faces to have had a considerable impact on Roma's run to the final, Rui Patricio has more clean sheets (five) than any other team in the competition and his last-16 heroics in Vitesse - where Roma collected a 1-0 win - helped keep his team in the competition.

Sergio Oliveira was the man that scored the winner in Holland - in a match that also saw the Portugal international dismissed for two yellow-cards - as he made a second statement bow in his European debut for the club, just weeks after scoring in each of his first two appearances.

A number of the club's youngsters have also seized their opportunities to impress in Europe, chief among them Nicola Zalewski who teed up assists in back-to-back knockout matches against Bodo and Leicester.

And then there's Mourinho, who is within touching distance of making yet more history less than 12 months into the job and his experience as a two-time Champions League winner, Europa League and UEFA Cup victor has clearly rubbed off on his players as they stand on the brink of European glory.

"He's instilled in all of us the importance of never giving up, to stay focused, to stay united in order to bring home results," said Zaniolo.

"We want to win something with him."

Roma face Feyenoord in the final of the Europa Conference League on May 25.

Kick-off is at 21:00 CEST.