During the 2006–07 football season, Associazione Sportiva Roma played its 74th Serie A league season, finishing 2nd. The club also competed in the UEFA Champions League, finishing as quarter-finalists, and the Coppa Italia, winning the trophy for the eighth time.
The season is mostly remembered for the collapse Roma suffered at the hands of Manchester United in the Champions League quarter-finals, United coming back from a 2–1 defeat in Rome to demolish the Italians 7–1 at Old Trafford.
Season review
Roma finished the 2005–06 Serie A in fifth place, but after the sentences of the 2006 Italian football scandal that deducted all of Juventus's points and thirty each from Milan and Fiorentina, Roma finished second, behind Internazionale, thus gaining the qualification to the Champions League group stage.
The summer transfer window brought some changes in the Roma tactical formation, the most important being the signing of David Pizarro, a deep-lying playmaker that coach Luciano Spalletti had managed at Udinese, and considered fundamental for Roma's passing play. Another important signing was Max Tonetto, who took the place of left-back Leandro Cufré, who was sold to Monaco. Other players such as Mirko Vučinić, Matteo Ferrari, Marco Cassetti and Ricardo Faty were signed to boost the squad.
The first match of the season was the Supercoppa Italiana, against Inter, played on 26 August 2006 at the San Siro. In the 34th minute Roma were leading 3–0 with two goals by Alberto Aquilani and one by Mancini. However, the physical condition of the giallorossi was still weak and so, the nerazzurri succeeded in reaching the draw with two goals by Patrick Vieira and one by Hernán Crespo; in extra-time Inter scored the fourth and winning goal with a free kick by Luís Figo.
In the first part of the season Roma, Inter and Palermo raced to the top of the league early, but Inter started to lead the Serie A and kept first place until the end.
During the winter transfer window, Vincenzo Montella was loaned to English club Fulham as he was lacking game time and wanted to try his luck in the Premier League. He was replaced by Francesco Tavano and Christian Wilhelmsson, both signed on loan.
Roma were drawn into Group D of the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League, along with Valencia, Shakhtar Donetsk and Olympiacos. They finished second, behind Valencia, with 10 points (three wins, one draw and two defeats).
In the first knockout round Roma were drawn against Lyon, who had already won 6 consecutive French championships and were the favourites to pass the round; however, after a 0–0 draw at the Stadio Olimpico (with many controversial decisions by English referee Mike Riley, who yellow carded eleven players), Roma won 2–0 in the Stade de Gerland with goals from Francesco Totti and Mancini, the latter of whom scored a sensational goal, performing a total of five stepovers in front of Lyon's dazed defender Anthony Réveillère. In the quarter-finals Roma faced Manchester United. They won the first leg 2–1 with goals from Rodrigo Taddei and Mirko Vučinić, but, in the second leg, having been undefeated in 10 games in all competitions previously and having the then-best performing defense of the tournament, they suffered an amazing 7–1 defeat at Old Trafford.
Roma won their eighth Coppa Italia after beating Triestina, Parma, Milan and finally Internazionale. Roma won the two final games with an aggregate result of 7–4; the first leg ended with a surprising 6–2 win while the second leg, though Inter's president Massimo Moratti claimed that they didn't care about the Coppa Italia, was played with animosity and determination by the nerazzurri, but the 2–1 final score gave the trophy to Roma.
Roma ended the 2006–07 Serie A season as runners-up, securing second place with three games to go, behind Internazionale. Although the nerazzurri dominated the championship, they lost the match against 'giallorossi' 3–1 at San Siro, the same stadium in which Roma also beat the 2007 Champions League winner Milan 2–1, with two goals from Francesco Totti. Totti scored a total of 32 goals in the season, and became the Serie A topscorer with 26 goals. He also won the European Golden Shoe, the trophy awarded to the top league goalscorer in Europe.
Players Squad information Last updated on 27 May 2007 Appearances include league matches only No. Name Nat Position(s) Date of birth (Age at end of season) Signed from Signed in Apps. Goals Goalkeepers 1 Gianluca Curci GK Youth Sector 2004 27 0 27 Júlio Sérgio GK América 2006 0 0 32 Doni GK Juventude 2005 60 0 Defenders 2 Christian Panucci (Vice-Captain) RB / CB Monaco 2001 180 12 3 Gilberto Martínez RB / CB Brescia 2006 0 0 5 Philippe Mexès CB Auxerre 2004 82 6 13 Cristian Chivu LB / CB Ajax 2003 85 6 19 Rodrigo Defendi CB Tottenham Hotspur 2006 0 0 21 Matteo Ferrari CB Parma 2004 62 2 22 Max Tonetto LB Sampdoria 2006 30 0 28 Aleandro Rosi RB Youth Sector 2004 37 2 77 Marco Cassetti RB Lecce 2006 28 2 Midfielders 4 Christian Wilhelmsson LW Nantes 2007 19 1 7 David Pizarro CM / DM Internazionale 2006 32 1 8 Alberto Aquilani CM / AM Youth Sector 2002 67 4 11 Rodrigo Taddei LM / RM / AM Siena 2005 67 13 14 Ricardo Faty DM / CM Strasbourg 2006 11 0 16 Daniele De Rossi DM / CM Youth Sector 2001 121 12 18 Valerio Virga CM Youth Sector 2004 10 0 20 Simone Perrotta LM / CM / AM Chievo 2004 99 16 30 Mancini LW / RW / AM Venezia 2003 123 32 Forwards 10 Francesco Totti (Captain) AM / LW / SS / CF / ST Youth Sector 1992 360 139 17 Francesco Tavano CF / ST Empoli 2007 14 2 23 Mirko Vučinić CF / ST Lecce 2006 25 2 35 Stefano Okaka CF / ST Youth Sector 2005 14 1 Players transferred during the season 9 Vincenzo Montella CF / ST Sampdoria 1999 180 83 24 Carlo Zotti GK Palermo 2001 14 0 25 Leandro Cufré LB Gimnasia La Plata 2002 69 1 99 Mido CF / ST Marseille 2004 8 0
Competitions
Overall Competition Started round Final position First match Last match Serie A Matchday 1Runners-up 9 September 2006 27 May 2007 Supercoppa Italiana FinalRunners-up 26 August 2006 Coppa Italia Round of 16 Winners 8 November 2006 17 May 2007 Champions League Group stage Quarter-finals 12 September 2006 10 April 2007
Last updated: 27 May 2007
Supercoppa Italiana
Serie A
League table
Results summary
Results by round
Matches
Coppa Italia
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
UEFA Champions League
Group stage
Knockout phase
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Statistics
Appearances and goals
! colspan=14 style="background:#B21B1C; color:#FFD700; text-align:center"| Players transferred out during the season
Goalscorers NameSerie ASupercoppaCoppa ItaliaUEFA CLTotal110FWFrancesco Totti2602432220MFSimone Perrotta80411330MFMancini81311342DFChristian Panucci50218511MFRodrigo Taddei5002769FWVincenzo Montella3030616MFDaniele De Rossi2022687MFDavid Pizarro1031595DFPhilippe Mexès300038MFAlberto Aquilani1200323FWMirko Vučinić200131217FWFrancesco Tavano2000221DFMatteo Ferrari2000228MFAleandro Rosi2000277DFMarco Cassetti20002164MFChristian Wilhelmsson1000118MFValerio Virga0010135FWStefano Okaka10001Own goal00000Totals7432013110
Last updated: 27 May 2007
Clean sheets NameSerie ASupercoppaCoppa ItaliaUEFA CLTotal132GKDoni130051821GKGianluca Curci10102Totals1401520
Last updated: 27 May 2007
References