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One month. That’s how long it’s been since Verona v Roma, the victory on 24 May that brought us back to the Champions League after eight years!
We asked 10 Roma fans what they remember of that exciting day. Read what they said, after reliving the match highlights on our YouTube channel!
Juha: "The beginning of a new chapter..."
“Unlike what normally happens just before major matches, that day I was calm and confident. After the insane game I’d witnessed at Parma, I could truly feel that nothing and no one could stop us. That Verona game was about testing how mature we were as a team. However, a straightforward game without any scares is not a game our beloved Roma can play: [Mile] Svilar’s crucial save in the 41st minute, [Donyell] Malen’s missed penalty in the 56th minute, Paulo [Dybala]’s reaction and Malen’s rebound goal, and in the end Stephan El Shaarawy’s final gift to Roma in the 93rd minute.
“It really felt great to finish our season that way, with tears of joy running down our faces and hugging friends who had shared moments of joy and pain throughout that entire season. My impression is that our match against Verona was not just the last one of the 2025/26 season, but also the beginning of a new chapter. Something we all deserve. Thank you, Roma!”
Andrea: “A scream caught in my throat”
“At last! That’s what I thought, while I had a liberating scream caught in my throat so as not to wake up the children who were already in bed. And joy combined with emotions before Elsha’s goal, which already makes me feel nostalgic. I have to be honest: I didn’t think we’d qualify for the Champions League this season. I’m extremely happy I was wrong.”
Adriano: “What an eruption of applause when we landed”
“I got married in Formentera that weekend. I followed the first half on the radio as we were taking off from Ibiza, then I had to turn it off. I usually sleep on the plane, but I was unable to get any sleep this time as I was just too nervous, even though we’d stayed up late the night before.
“Once we landed, as soon as I could turn my smartphone back on, I saw the result and without even realising it I let out a scream: Daje, we’re going to the Champions League! What I hadn’t anticipated was the reaction of the other passengers: everyone erupted into applause when we landed!”
Valerio: “We started crying tears of joy”
“It could’ve been one of Roma’s typical dramatic game. Those like us know that Roma have always had these experiences, bad luck is always around the corner. However, in that afternoon things went differently: it was perhaps the start of something different as well as the end of that streak of disappointments.
“There was a sense of liberation in the 93rd minute, when Elsha’s goal made us burst out in joy. My friend Martina and I started hugging each other with tears running down our cheeks because it felt like it was bound to happen. A different afternoon, a deeply yellow and red afternoon.”
Claudia: "That night at Nelly’s”
“At Nelly’s there’s no phone signal or internet connection. Nelly is one of the people from the cat shelter I work at; that’s what I do. So I was almost in the dark during Verona v Roma. But luckily for me, some other customers of mine lived on the floor above her and they’re die-hard Roma fans. Based on the noise they were making and their comments, I could tell how the game was going.
But then I heard: PENALTY! PENALTY! NOOOOO… GOOOOOAAAAAL!
Once I heard that, I went upstairs too. They opened the door and we all stood up watching the game until it was over, hugging each other as if we were life-long friends. That night I felt a great sense of happiness, but above all a strong sense of justice: El Shaarawy deserved to be the one to score that last-minute goal. We deserved to win that game and finally, we deserved to qualify for the Champions League.”
Alessandro: “We’re back where we deserve to be”
“When the game was finally over, I felt a sense of liberation as we had finally qualified for the competition we deserved to play in. The competition that made us cheer and cry. With those memorable matches such as Roma v barcelona and Lyon v Roma, as well as Roma v Liverpool or Manchester v Roma, when we showed who we were. When we were nevertheless grateful to be Roma fans.
But above all I was happy because I can once again feel that sense of anticipation with my son, who’s just turned 12, as we prepare to once again experience those magical nights with trophies and champions.”
Federica: “Verona v Roma lasted 300 minutes”
“Expectations at the start of the season were very high, but then they diminished towards the end of 2025, but our hope was rekindled because Roma fans, as everyone knows, have a romantic heart. Towards the end of the season, I would hear the usual comments about if you win all of them, if Juventus lose one match… things I’d already seen before.
“True fear came after Parma v Roma, when we felt a small part of the fourth place at 90 +11. Then there was the derby, and then Verona v Roma. That was the real deal, a 90-minute game (that felt like 300 minutes) that reminds you of why you support this team so much despite everything.
“Until the very end, we were terrified of making a mistake, then El Shaarawy bid farewell to his team in the best way possible. It was meant to happen and we can finally admit it: we all knew it was going to happen.”
Manuele: “Verona v Roma is all about justice”
“Verona v Roma is all about justice. Because Roma were born great and will remain great.” The tears on my face were just a sign of gratitude (Thank you, Roma) towards ElSha, [Francesco] Totti holding a ball towards a corner flag after [Diego] Perotti’s goal and for [Giacomo] Losi who scored THAT goal against Sampdoria. ElSha’s goal is the symbol of the selfless love I feel for Roma every day of my life. Even if it were my last, I’d do anything to make my club happy. To me, ElSha’s goal is all about love. That’s why I’ll remember it for my entire life.”
Antonio: “I’d lost hope, but then…”
“I have to confess that after we’d lost to Lazio in the Coppa Italia I’d calmed down. We’d at least qualified for the Europa League. Then, as we got closer to our match against Verona, I
started feeling a sense of anticipation and hope that at least this time we could qualify for the Champions League.
At the end of the first half, I have to say that I had almost lost hope. Then there were the penalty and the rebound goal by Malen got rid of any doubt we could still have. And then El Shaarawy’s goal finally sealed the deal!”
Alessandro: "I switched on the radio just as Elsha scored"
"At 53 years old, I still haven't built up any antibodies to a lifetime of comebacks that came to nothing. No SPF 50 against chronic disappointment. What was I doing on the day of Verona–Roma? Something else. I forced myself to do something else until I couldn't take it anymore.
Because habit is all well and good, but it's forza Roma always — so I switched on the radio (how old-school) right at the Pharaoh's goal. I've seen defeats and pointless comebacks by the truckload, but come on, daje!"
Patrizio: "Thank you, Gasp, our leader"
"After that draw against Juventus, I thought here we go again. I was bracing myself for the classic Roma end-of-season, where every planet aligns just so to trigger that mechanism that every year leaves us suffering for having come within a hair's breadth of objectives we'd clung to right up to the final matchday.
But then Gian Piero Gasperini, like a true leader, took the reins of our destiny into his own hands, brought us even closer together with the team, and we all started believing again, together — right up to that farewell kiss from the Pharaoh. In that goal, out came all the joy, the hope and the conviction that we'd shut away in some remote corner of our being as fans, freeing us from that sense of doubt, frustration and above all from the fear of being let down yet again.
Finally it's our turn, finally we're returning to where we belong, because the most beautiful set of fans in the world deserves nothing less than the grandest stage, and the most beautiful city in the world deserves nothing less than to be wrapped in a mantle of stars — the stars for which we'll return, all together, to roar 'The Champions'."
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