Opinion: Roma Women gaining belief they can compete with the best

Roma Women can enter the 2022-23 Serie A Femminile season fuelled by the knowledge that they have already made progress in their inaugural Champions League adventure.

The draw for the second round before the group stage is looming after Roma successfully navigated both parts of the first.

After a 3-1 win against hosts Glasgow City in the semi-final of round one, a penalty shootout victory over Paris FC after a 0-0 draw in the final earned Alessandro Spugna’s side progress into the next phase of qualification.

There have been signs of confidence and resilience in equal measure, as the team – a few new signings included, such as Moeka Minami, Valentina Giacinti and, albeit briefly, Norma Cinotti – go about acclimatising and finding their rhythm. Roma have not yet looked out of place.

Although the level of challenge is about to increase even further, the fact Roma have simply made it this far is worthy of praise. In a brand-new environment, the squad adapted well and replicated some of the qualities that helped the club qualify for the competition in the first place with last season’s runners-up finish in Serie A.

Against Glasgow City, Roma refused to let a partisan crowd deter them and generally kept the game under control. Never falling behind, they quickly got up to the speed of the Champions League stage.

Free flowing in attack, a brace from Benedetta Glionna and a goal from Paloma Lazaro took the tie away from the Scottish side at Petershill Park.

At the same venue a few days later, a gruelling battle against Paris FC had to be decided by penalties. This time, Roma showed resilience – ever-reliable goalkeeper Camelia Ceasar was influential in the two hours of play and by making a save in the penalty shootout, while midfielders Giada Greggi and Manuela Giugliano had to place more emphasis on pressing and tackling duties – to keep their journey going.

Now, a two-legged tie – against an opponent to be determined on September 1st – is all that separates Roma from a place in the 16-team group stage.

It will be even more challenging than what the Giallorosse have encountered so far, but the mentality they have quickly reignited from last season can only serve them well on all fronts in the coming weeks.

It is impressive how well Roma have done to say it is their debut in the tournament. To illustrate, Glasgow City had been in the Champions League on 15 previous occasions – not missing an edition since as far back as the 2008-09 season.

They won their first-round qualifying group in this format of the competition last season, while in the previous style – whereby the tournament followed a knockout format, narrowing down from a round of 32 – they went as far as the quarter-final on a couple of occasions, most recently in 2019-20.

And Paris FC, who come from a more competitive league in their French homeland, had made even further progress before (under the guise of Juvisy), having reached the semi-finals in 2012-13. Hence, neither of Roma’s opponents were strangers to this stage, yet the competition newcomers quickly established themselves.

This was the second season of the Women’s Champions League in its new format with this method of qualification. Last season, Serie A winners Juventus progressed through both rounds of qualifying, but runners-up AC Milan lost in the final of their first-round group. Hence, Roma have surpassed the achievement of their equivalent from last season.

In the years before, with the knockout format, if we can take the round of 16 as the equivalent of the group stage, only twice out of six possibilities did an Italian team (on both occasions, Fiorentina) make it that far in the last three editions.

It demonstrates how competitive this tournament has been, even in the early stages – and what Roma will have to overcome next.

Yet, just reaching this point can be classed as a success and give the squad a conviction in its own quality – an inherent trait that has already served them well over the past couple of seasons, leading to the Coppa Italia win in 2020-21 and their highest ever league finish in 2021-22.

The target domestically is to now close the gap with Juventus even further, which has been a difficult task for many a club in recent years.

Roma pushed well last season – the title wasn’t mathematically out of reach until the penultimate matchday, which also happened to be when the Giallorosse could celebrate booking their Champions League place – but to get even closer to a side with their own strengths in mentality, they will need to utilise the same self-belief they have been showing on the early European stage.

It will soon be time for the next chapter, which Roma will have to approach in the same manner that has helped them make the first one represent an accomplishment.

Follow Samuel Bannister on Twitter: @SamBanno1