1997–98 A.S. Roma season

Roma

1997–98 season
Chairman	Franco Sensi
Manager	Zdeněk Zeman
Serie A	4th
Coppa Italia	Quarter-finals
Top goalscorer	League: Abel Balbo (14) All: Abel Balbo (14)
← 1996–97 1998–99 →

A.S. Roma was reinvigorated under new coach Zdeněk Zeman, who recently had been coaching arch rivals Lazio. Zeman brought his attacking 4-3-3 with him, resulting in Roma scoring 67 goals, but also conceding 42, an extreme rarity in defensive-minded Italian football. Roma finished fourth, three places above Lazio in the table. That was the first time it had happened in five years, which delighted the Roma board, and Zeman stayed on for a further season. The season also saw the international breakthrough of former youth-team product Francesco Totti, who at 21 was ready for increased responsibility and captaincy, responding with 13 league goals from a position on the left-wing of the attack. Also noticeable was new signing Cafu's offensive skills as a right-wing back, granting him a reputation among the world's top wing backs.

Squad

Goalkeepers

• 1 Michael Konsel
• 12 Antonio Chimenti
• 23 Andrea Campagnolo

Defenders

• 2 Cafu
• 3 Filippo Dal Moro
• 5 Vincent Candela
• 6 Aldair
• 15 Christian Servidei
• 16 Matteo Pivotto
• 21 Omari Tetradze
• 22 César Gómez
• 25 Fabio Petruzzi
• 30 Zago

Midfielders

• 4 Luigi Di Biagio
• 8 Christian Scapolo
• 11 Eusebio Di Francesco
• 13 Vágner
• 17 Damiano Tommasi
• 18 Iván Helguera
• 19 Carmine Gautieri

Attackers

• 7 Paulo Sérgio
• 9 Abel Balbo
• 10 Francesco Totti
• 14 Lampros Choutos
• 24 Marco Delvecchio

Serie A

Matches

1	Empoli	1–3	Roma
	Cappellini  16' (pen.)		Delvecchio  3' Balbo  46', 61'

2	Roma	0–0	Juventus

3	Roma	3–1	Lecce
	Totti  3' Di Biagio  17' Balbo  68'		Palmieri  10'

4	Bologna	0–0	Roma

5	Roma	6–2	Napoli
	Candela  16' Gautieri  34' Balbo  51', 60', 89' Di Francesco  53'		Altomare  71' Bellucci  80' (pen.)

6	Fiorentina	0–0	Roma

7	Roma	1–3	Lazio
	Delvecchio  90+1'		Mancini  47' Casiraghi  54' Nedvěd  81'

8	Bari	1–3	Roma
	Volpi  36'		Totti  10', 56' Balbo  34'

9	Roma	2–2	Vicenza
	Balbo  28' Paulo Sérgio  44'		Luiso  1' Ambrosetti  45'

10	Parma	0–2	Roma
			Totti  9' Paulo Sérgio  22'

11	Roma	3–0	Atalanta
	Carrera  22' (o.g.) Totti  27' Paulo Sérgio  32'

12	Inter	3–0	Roma
	Djorkaeff  40' Branca  49' Petruzzi  71' (o.g.)

13	Brescia	1–1	Roma
	Hübner  15'		Paulo Sérgio  90+5'

14	Roma	1–2	Udinese
	Balbo  59' (pen.)		Bierhoff  49', 56'

15	Milan	0–0	Roma

16	Roma	1–1	Piacenza
	Aldair  6'		Rastelli  85'

17	Sampdoria	1–1	Roma
	Mihajlović  33'		Mannini  26' (o.g.)

18	Roma	4–3	Empoli
	Balbo  23', 74', 87' (pen.) Aldair  73'		Bonomi  60' Cappellini  85', 88'

19	Juventus	3–1	Roma
	Zidane  47' Del Piero  49' Davids  65'		Paulo Sérgio  56'

20	Lecce	1–3	Roma
	Atelkin  77'		Balbo  42' (pen.) Di Biagio  48' Gautieri  86'

21	Roma	2–1	Bologna
	Di Francesco  5' Delvecchio  87'		Kolyvanov  9'

22	Napoli	0–2	Roma
			Totti  54' Di Biagio  62'

23	Roma	4–1	Fiorentina
	Paulo Sérgio  12' Delvecchio  32', 41' Totti  56'		Batistuta  71'

24	Lazio	2–0	Roma
	Bokšić  50' Nedvěd  62'

25	Roma	2–1	Bari
	Paulo Sérgio  2' Aldair  78'		Zambrotta  51'

26	Vicenza	1–1	Roma
	Luiso  24'		Balbo  12'

27	Roma	2–2	Parma
	Totti  10' Paulo Sérgio  25'		Chiesa  26', 53'

28	Atalanta	0–1	Roma
			Di Francesco  3'

29	Roma	1–2	Inter
	Cafu  63'		Ronaldo  50', 75'

30	Roma	5–0	Brescia
	Di Biagio  25' (pen.), 89' Paulo Sérgio  33', 66' Totti  55'

31	Udinese	4–2	Roma
	Bierhoff  23', 89' Calori  59' Poggi  74'		Totti  45', 73'

32	Roma	5–0	Milan
	Candela  16' Di Biagio  20' (pen.), 28' Paulo Sérgio  39' Delvecchio  82'

33	Piacenza	3–3	Roma
	Piovani  46' (pen.) Murgita  57' Valtolina  90+4'		Di Francesco  47' Totti  52' (pen.) Paulo Sérgio  86'

34	Roma	2–0	Sampdoria
	Totti  24' Delvecchio  90+1'

Top Scorers

• Abel Balbo 14 (3)
• Francesco Totti 13 (1)
• Paulo Sérgio 12
• Marco Delvecchio 7
• Luigi Di Biagio 7 (2)

Sources

RSSSF - Italy 1997/98

Associazione Sportiva Roma General Overview Primavera Seasons Players Managers Presidents Statistics History History Roman Alba-Audace Fortitudo Stadia Campo Testaccio Stadio Nazionale PNF Stadio Flaminio Stadio Olimpico Stadio della Roma Rivalries Derby della Capitale Derby del Sole Other Superleague Formula team Futsal team

Associazione Sportiva Roma seasons 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1944 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15

1997–98 in Serie A Atalanta Bari Bologna Brescia Empoli Fiorentina Internazionale Juventus Lazio Lecce Milan Napoli Parma Piacenza Roma Sampdoria Vicenza Udinese