Preview
Roma have lurched from one crisis to another this season but going
into Sunday's game against Parma they find themselves within
touching distance of the top four.
Roma have suffered their fair share of suspensions, injuries and
coaching changes, and also suffered the humiliation of a severe
UEFA punishment for the crowd trouble at their Champions League
game against Dinamo Kiev, a contest that was abandoned at half-time
after referee Anders Frisk was hit by an object thrown from the
stands.
As miracles go, Roma's close proximity to the top four is a big
one. ``We can point towards a Champions League spot,'' said veteran
defender Christian Panucci.
``We now have the time to recover and we are aware that we have
plenty of talent to be competing in the leading positions in Serie
A.''
Against third-bottom Parma, they will face a team that sacked coach
Silvio Baldini this week and replaced him with former Gialloblu
boss Pietro Carmignani.
The new coach, who is back for a second spell with Parma, has
worked a minor miracle himself by engineering a 3-2 win over
Besiktas on Thursday -a result that qualified Parma for the next
stage of the UEFA Cup.
Parma had to score three goals and win the game to progress and
they completed both aims. ``You always suffer when you are on the
bench,'' said Carmignani after the victory over the Turkish
club.
``But when you obtain favourable results, the pain turns to joy. We
won the game because our players showed heart, while not
necessarily using their heads.
``We know that we have to grow but we have to also recognise the
work done by Baldini because there is nothing new. There has only
been a change of coach. The players have put forth a lot of effort
and now we need time to continue to improve.''
Carmignani will be hoping to bring success to Parma, much like
Cesare Prandelli did in recent seasons before leaving in the summer
to take over at Roma.
Prandelli, just before the start of the season, had to step down at
Roma to care for his ill wife. Rudi Voller took over for a brief
stretch but quit and Luigi Del Neri is now in charge of Roma.
And Del Neri was delighted that for once luck was on their side
when his team beat Brescia in the last minute of last weekend's
encounter thanks to a converted penalty from Mancini.
``We deserved to win this game,'' said Del Neri. ``The fact that we
didn't concede any goals was another positive aspect which shows
that our defensive problems are slowly disappearing.''
Roma had conceded 24 goals in 14 league games, an awful start for a
team that had the best backline in the previous campaign.
``It has been a very important victory because it's possible for us
to return to the Champions League positions,'' said Del Neri.
A victory at the Stadio Olimpico will be a morale boost for the
Giallorossi considering that their team meet city neighbours Lazio
in their first game of 2005.
Roma will be without goalkeeper Ivan Pelizzoli and defender
Traianos Dellas because of injuries. Carlo Zotti will replace
Pelizzoli while Del Neri has included last weekend's goalscorer
Mancini, who was struggling with a groin injury earlier in the
week.
Parma will not have injured midfielder Marco Marchionni but are
hoping to recall Domenico Morfeo.