2004–05 A.S. Roma season

Roma

2004–05 season
Chairman	Franco Sensi
Manager	Cesare Prandelli Rudi Völler Luigi Delneri Bruno Conti
Serie A	8th
Coppa Italia	Runners-up
Champions League	Group stage
Top goalscorer	League: Vincenzo Montella (21) All: Vincenzo Montella (23)
← 2003–04 2005–06 →

A.S. Roma possibly endured its most troubled football season ever, in which the club almost went from a genuine title threat to relegation. Despite its eight place, the 18th placed Bologna was only a few points behind in the close table.

The problems started before the season began, with coach Fabio Capello signing for Juventus, and key players Emerson and Walter Samuel departing. That Samuel departed to Real Madrid was greeted with disappointment, but the move was thought to be necessary given the financial struggles of Roma. The moves for Capello and Emerson in contrast, were controversial, with Rome's mayor Walter Veltroni even having to step in to calm feelings down, when Capello had decided to buy Emerson to the Turin club.

Controversy resumed when Roma signed French defender Philippe Mexès from Auxerre, despite a rolling contract. Auxerre took Roma to UEFA court, and in July 2005, Roma was suspended from the transfer market for a full calendar year. In the midst of chaos, new coach Cesare Prandelli decided to resign when finding out his wife was seriously ill (she would survive another two years before dying), and Prandelli returned to football with Fiorentina one year later.

Rudi Völler, formerly a striker at the club, and the man in charge when Germany reached the final of the 2002 FIFA World Cup, took over, but the German did not last long, complaining of a lack of organisation. Former Chievo coach Luigi Delneri, who had been sacked from European Champions Porto in pre-season, due to spending too much time in his native Italy, took charge, but the squad lacked confidence, and the scandals and internal fighting caused Roma to slip into the relegation fight. Former club midfielder Bruno Conti saved the club from relegation, owing much to striking duo Vincenzo Montella and Francesco Totti.

A notable incident during the season was referee Anders Frisk being hit by a coin in a Champions League fixture against Dynamo Kyiv, as Roma crashed out of the tournament in its initial phase. Another intrigue was the tug of war between captain Francesco Totti and young pretender Antonio Cassano, a battle Cassano lost. Due to Roma's transfer ban, the club could not get rid of Cassano until January 2006, when Real Madrid bought him.

Squad

Squad No.	Name	Nationality	Position	Date of birth (age)	Previous Club
Goalkeepers
1	Gianluca Curci		GK	(1985-07-12)July 12, 1985 (aged 19)	AS Roma Primavera
12	Carlo Zotti		GK	(1982-09-03)September 3, 1982 (aged 22)	AS Roma Primavera
22	Ivan Pelizzoli		GK	(1980-11-18)November 18, 1980 (aged 24)	Atalanta
Defenders
2	Christian Panucci		RB/CB	(1973-04-12)April 12, 1973 (aged 32)	AS Monaco
13	Cristian Chivu		CB/LB	(1980-10-26)October 26, 1980 (aged 24)	Ajax
5	Philippe Mexès		CB	(1982-03-30)March 30, 1982 (aged 23)	Auxerre
8	Matteo Ferrari		CB	(1979-12-05)December 5, 1979 (aged 25)	Parma
25	Leandro Cufré		LB/CB	(1978-05-09)May 9, 1978 (aged 27)	Gimnasia La Plata
7	Luigi Sartor		RB/LB	(1975-01-30)January 30, 1975 (aged 30)	Parma
31	Traianos Dellas		CB	(1976-01-31)January 31, 1976 (aged 29)	Perugia
3	Abel Xavier		RB/LB	(1972-11-30)November 30, 1972 (aged 32)	Hannover 96
19	Giuseppe Scurto		CB	(1984-01-05)January 5, 1984 (aged 21)	AS Roma Primavera
32	Vincent Candela		LB	(1973-10-24)October 24, 1973 (aged 31)	Guingamp
Midfielders
20	Simone Perrotta		CM	(1977-09-17)September 17, 1977 (aged 27)	Chievo
23	Alberto Aquilani		CM/AM	(1984-07-07)July 7, 1984 (aged 20)	AS Roma Primavera
15	Olivier Dacourt		CM	(1974-09-25)September 25, 1974 (aged 30)	Leeds United
17	Damiano Tommasi		DM	(1974-05-17)May 17, 1974 (aged 31)	Verona
21	Gaetano D'Agostino		CM	(1982-06-03)June 3, 1982 (aged 22)	AS Roma Primavera
27	Daniele De Rossi		DM	(1983-07-24)July 24, 1983 (aged 21)	AS Roma Primavera
30	Mancini		AM	(1980-08-01)August 1, 1980 (aged 24)	Venezia
28	Valerio Virga		CM	(1986-06-06)June 6, 1986 (aged 18)	AS Roma Primavera
28	Aleandro Rosi		RM	(1987-05-17)May 17, 1987 (aged 18)	AS Roma Primavera
Forwards
9	Vincenzo Montella		CF	(1974-06-18)June 18, 1974 (aged 30)	Sampdoria
10	Francesco Totti (c)		FW	(1976-09-27)September 27, 1976 (aged 28)	AS Roma Primavera
18	Antonio Cassano		FW	(1982-07-12)July 12, 1982 (aged 22)	Bari
11	Daniele Corvia		FW	(1984-11-20)November 20, 1984 (aged 20)	AS Roma Primavera
24	Marco Delvecchio		CF	(1973-04-07)April 7, 1973 (aged 32)	Internazionale
26	Alessio Cerci		FW	(1987-07-23)July 23, 1987 (aged 17)	AS Roma Primavera
99	Mido		CF	(1983-02-23)February 23, 1983 (aged 22)	Marseille

Serie A

Matches

1 12 September 2004	Roma	1–0	Fiorentina
15:00 CEST	Montella  51'

2 19 September 2004	Messina	4–3	Roma
15:00 CEST	Parisi  21' (pen.) Sullo  46' Giampà  74' Zampagna  78'		Montella  36', 64', 67'

3 22 September 2004	Roma	2–2	Lecce
20:30 CEST	Cassano  53' Mancini  72'		Cassetti  41' Bojinov  59'

4 25 September 2004	Bologna	3–1	Roma
18:00 CEST	Meghni  5', 38' Cipriani  34'		Totti  60'

5 3 October 2004	Roma	3–3	Inter
20:30 CEST	Montella  9' Totti  57' De Rossi  74'		Cambiasso  45+1' Verón  51' Recoba  54'

6 16 October 2004	Livorno	0–2	Roma
18:00 CEST			Totti  30' Montella  70'

7 24 October 2004	Roma	1–1	Palermo
15:00 CEST	Totti  57' (pen.)		Grosso  32'

8 28 October 2004	Juventus	2–0	Roma
20:30 CEST	Del Piero  31' Zalayeta  74'

9 31 October 2004	Roma	5–1	Cagliari
15:00 CET	Dellas  2' Totti  6' (pen.) Perrotta  64' Montella  90', 90+2'		Suazo  31'

10	Milan	1–1	Roma
	Shevchenko  6'		Montella  48'

11	Roma	0–3	Udinese
			Iaquinta  44', 83' Pizarro  60' (pen.)

12	Reggina	1–0	Roma
	Bonazzoli  15'

13	Siena	0–4	Roma
			Montella  68', 70' Totti  72', 90+1'

14	Roma	1–1	Sampdoria
	Totti  84' (pen.)		Pagano  81'

15	Brescia	0–1	Roma
			Mancini  90+4' (pen.)

16	Roma	5–1	Parma
	Cassano  9', 49' Totti  28', 57' Montella  52'		Bovo  44'

17	Lazio	3–1	Roma
	Di Canio  28' César  75' Rocchi  84'		Cassano  68'

18	Roma	2–1	Atalanta
	Montella  40', 53'		Marcolini  85'

19	Chievo	2–2	Roma
	Pellissier  15' Tiribocchi  20'		Montella  34', 56'

20	Fiorentina	1–2	Roma
	Maresca  20'		Cassano  23' Montella  67'

21	Roma	3–2	Messina
	Totti  56' Cassano  60' Mancini  82'		Zampagna  12' Parisi  31'

22	Lecce	1–1	Roma
	Vučinić  79'		Giacomazzi  49' (o.g.)

23	Roma	1–1	Bologna
	Montella  9'		Della Rocca  61'

24	Inter	2–0	Roma
	Mihajlović  23', 90+2'

25	Roma	3–0	Livorno
	Montella  8' Perrotta  70' Totti  85'

26	Palermo	2–0	Roma
	Brienza  54' Toni  90+1'

27	Roma	1–2	Juventus
	Cassano  39'		Cannavaro  11' Del Piero  44' (pen.)

28	Cagliari	3–0	Roma
	Zola  24' Esposito  41' Suazo  58'

29	Roma	0–2	Milan
			Crespo  63' Pirlo  70' (pen.)

30	Udinese	3–3	Roma
	Di Natale  28' Pinzi  33' Di Michele  76'		Chivu  14' Montella  23' Mancini  44'

31	Roma	1–2	Reggina
	Chivu  24'		Franceschini  72' Bonazzoli  82'

32	Roma	0–2	Siena
			Maccarone  60' Chiesa  88'

33	Sampdoria	2–1	Roma
	Tonetto  32' Flachi  89' (pen.)		Montella  90+2' (pen.)

34	Roma	2–2	Brescia
	Perrotta  1' De Rossi  76'		Womé  46' Caracciolo  79'

35	Parma	2–1	Roma
	Morfeo  63' Gilardino  79' (pen.)		Cassano  4'

36	Roma	0–0	Lazio

37	Atalanta	0–1	Roma
			Cassano  50'

38	Roma	0–0	Chievo

Top Scorers

• Vincenzo Montella 21 (1)
• Francesco Totti 12 (3)
• Antonio Cassano 9
• Mancini 4 (1)

Champions League

Group stage

1	Roma	0–1	Dynamo Kyiv	Rome, Italy
			Gavrančić  29'

2	Real Madrid	4–2	Roma	Madrid, Spain
	Raúl  39', 72' Figo  53' R. Carlos  79'		De Rossi  3' Cassano  21'

3	Bayer Leverkusen	3–1	Roma	Germany
	Roque Júnior  48' Krzynówek  57' França  90'		Berbatov  26' (o.g.)

4	Roma	1–1	Bayer Leverkusen	Italy, Rome
	Montella  90+3'		Berbatov  82'

5	Dynamo Kyiv	2–0	Roma	Kiev, Ukraine
	Dellas  73' (o.g.) Shatskhik  82'

6	Roma	0–3	Real Madrid	Rome, Italy
			Ronaldo  9' Figo  60' (pen.), 82'

Sources

RSSSF - Italy 2004/05

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

2004–05 in Serie A Atalanta Bologna Brescia Cagliari Chievo Fiorentina Internazionale Juventus Lazio Lecce Livorno Milan Messina Parma Palermo Reggina Roma Sampdoria Siena Udinese