The Golden Generation of Roma

Traditionally AS Roma has been one of the big clubs in Italian football. The club was founded in the 7th day of June, 1927 as three older football clubs which were located in the city of Rome, merged together to form AS Roma. The Giallorossi (The Yellow and Reds) started their journey from the Italian top flight and made a name for themselves during the 1930-31 when they finished the league as the runner-up behind Juventus.

It took more than a decade for Roma fans to celebrate their first championship in 1942 as the club finally managed to win the Serie A and claim the famous Scudetto badge. For the following decades, Roma had its up and downs and even got relegated to lower division in 1951 but bounced back immediately by winning the Serie B title straight away. After winning a couple of Coppa Italia titles in the 60s, the golden generation of Roma started to shape up in the 70s which we are going to investigate it.

When Was the Golden Generation of Roma?

Every football club around the world has its golden years throughout history. It happens when the perfect combination of world class players, a genius manager, and of course a little bit of luck takes place within the club. for AS Roma, it happened with the start of the 1980s when they had so many great players in their squad and one of the greatest football managers of all time at the dugout. In this article, we are going to review how the golden generation of Roma shaped up, what they achieved during those glorious years, and who were the key players in the

best Roma team

back then. 

AS Roma Golden Era in 1980s

It’s safe to say that the main man who was responsible for the golden generation of

in 1980s, was the Swedish coach Nils Liedholm. Before starting his coaching career in 1961, Liedholm had a successful career as a plyer and spent most of his playing days in AC Milan from 1949 to 1961. He was an exceptional attacking midfielder who was known for his exquisite style of play that made him one of the best players of his generation. Liedholm joined Roma for the first time at the beginning of 1973-74 season and lead the club for four years before returning to Milan in 1977.

Two years later, Liedholm came back to capital to start his second spell as the head coach of AS Roma which turned out to be the most prosperous era in the history of the club. As one of the most respected managers in Italian football history, Nils Liedholm had so many initiative tactics in his repertoire. In particular, Liedholm is known for being the master of zonal marking system and he used that as the cornerstone of Roma’s success in the 80s. During the 70s, Roma was barely a top four team in the Italian top flight.

Their best achievement in that time span was a third-place finish in the 1974-75 season of Serie A which also came under Nils Liedholm while he was having his first spell at the club. With Liedholm’s returning to the club in 1979, things started to look promising as Roma won the Coppa Italia title in the 1979-80 season which was the club’s first trophy after 10 years. For the next years, there were so many Roma legends who were enjoying the best days of their careers under Nils Liedholm. Now, let’s review the highlights of

the golden generation of Roma

. 

The Second Scudetto

Despite being one of the big clubs in Italian football and participating in Serie A for 89 seasons (only Inter has a better record with 90 seasons), Roma has only won the league title on 3 occasions. So, winning the Serie A is kind of a big deal in Italian capital. Their first league title came in 1942 season and 41 years later in the 1982-83 season, the golden generation of Roma brought home the second Serie A title in the club’s history.

They topped the league table with four points above the defending champions

and qualified for the 1983-84 season of European cup. Prior to that, Roma was so close to winning the title in the 1980-81 season as well when they finished the league as the runner-up with only two points shy of Juventus 44 points. The 1980-81 had one of the most controversial title races as Roma was denied a goal against Juventus due to offside which clearly was a mistake from referee. A goal that could potentially decide the league winners. In the 1983-84 season, there was another close race between Roma and Juventus for the Scudetto but again, it was Juve who won the title with another two-point margin. 

First European Cup Final

Although, they have won the 1961 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup by winning against Birmingham City in the final, AS Roma had never experienced playing in a European Cup up until the 1983-84 season. After winning the Serie A title in the season before that, Roma was representing the Italian football amongst 32 clubs from 32 nations that participated in the 1983-84 season of European Cup. Back then, there was no group stage in the competition as the tournament had four knockout stages before the final match. At the first round of the knockouts, Roma eliminated the Swedish side IFK Göteborg with an aggregate score of 4-2.

CSKA Sofia was Roma’s second victim on their route to the final as they beat the Bulgarian club with two 1-0 wins. In the quarter-final, Roma had to face against Dynamo Berlin from East Germany. Another 4-2 aggregate win meant that Roma made its way to the semi-final where they had

United waiting for them. The first leg match was played at Dundee, Scotland which the hosts won by 2 goals to nil. On the second leg, Roma made a comeback in front of 60000 Roma fans by a 3-0 scoreline. Although a couple of years later it was reported that Roma president attempted to bribe the referee for their second leg match against Dundee.

 Nonetheless, now Roma had to beat the three times European Cup champions Liverpool to claim their first ever title in the competition. The final match’ venue was Roma’s home ground, the Stadio Olimpico. Despite Liverpool scoring the opener through Phil Neal, Roma put on a decent performance and Roberto Pruzzo equalized the match in the first half. The scoreline remained intact and after two hours of football, it was all down to penalty shootouts to decide the European championship. Roma missed two of their shots and failed to win the title on their first and up to this day, only European Cup final.

The Coppa Italia Championships

Despite underachieving in Serie A, Roma has a satisfactory record in the Coppa Italia. After Juventus with 14 championships, Roma is the second most successful club in the Italian domestic cup tournament with 9 championships.

The golden generation of Roma

has won 4 out of those 9 titles during the 1980s. Before that, Roma had two championships in 1964 and 1969. With Nils Liedholm taking charge at the club, they won the 1980 and 1981 Coppa Italia titles beating Torino on both finals with penalty shootouts.

On his last season at the club, Nils Liedholm led Roma to another Coppa Italia final in the 1983-84 season and once again they came on top this time against Hellas Verona with an aggregate 2-1 win. After winning four silverwares with Roma, Nils Liedholm left Roma to rejoin Milan in 1984. Another Swedish manager, Sven-Göran Eriksson, succeeded Liedholm at Roma and on his second season at the club, he won a Coppa Italia title beating

in the final. Since then, Roma has won the Coppa Italia trophy on only three occasions in 1991, 2007, and 2008. 

The Key Players of the Golden Generation of Roma in 1980s

Many people around the world know the club AS Roma with

and Daniele De Rossi who flourished on the pitch for more than two decades in Roma colors. But even before them, AS Roma has been the home of so many legendary figures throughout history. Names like Aldair, Giuseppe Giannini, Damiano Tommasi, Amedeo Amadei, and the list goes on. But if you were about to create the best Roma all time XI, the majority of them would be from the golden generation of Roma in 80s and here we are going to meet the outstanding players in that era:

Franco Tancredi

A crucial position in every golden generation is the goalkeeper. Franco Tancredi was an Italian goalkeeper who started his professional career at the age of 17 at his hometown club Giulianova. After spending a few years at Milan and

, Roma brought him to the capital in the 1977-78 season. For the first couple of years, he was a reserve GK and barely found the chance to guard the net for the Giallorossi.

With the arrival of Liedholm, Franco Tancredi was getting more playing time and started more than half of the matches in Serie A. Since 1980, Tancredi became Roma’s number one and had an important role in the best Roma team that won numerous titles during that decade. He was only 1.76 tall which is quite a short height for a goalkeeper but his rapid reactions and agility made him a reliable shot stopper between the posts who was a specialist in saving penalties. With playing 389 games for Roma, Franco Tancredi is one of the

Roma legends

and he is also one of the only two goalkeepers in the club’s Hall of Fame.

Sebastiano Nela

Before moving to Roma in 1981, the Italian left back Sebastiano Nela was a

player for three seasons. He then became a Romanista at the age of 20 and immediately cemented his place in the squad as a regular starter. Nela was amongst the key players in the 1983-84 league campaign that led to Roma winning its second Scudetto. As a versatile defender, Nela could perform on almost every position in the defending line.

Although his main position was the left back, Nela was used as a right back, centre back, and sweeper as well. He also was a hidden weapon on attacking phase and could deliver goals and assists from time to time. Sebastiano Nela played for Roma until 1992 and wear the club’s yellow and red shirt for 397 matches which made him one of the top 10 players in terms of the most appearances in Roma’s history.

Carlo Ancelotti

Today he is renowned for being one of the most decorated football managers in the history of football who won the UEFA Champions League three times, and the league titles in four out of top five European domestic leagues.

’s incredibly successful career as a manager made people to often overlook how great of a player he was during his playing days in the 1980s when he played for Roma. After three years at Parma, Carlo joined Roma in 1979 as a 20-year-old talented midfielder.

He didn’t have a pacey pair of legs or an athlete’s body to help him win the psychical battles in the middle of the pitch; but Carlo Ancelotti was a superb playmaker who could change the game with his pinpoint passes. As a creative playmaker, Ancelotti could perform in various positions such a defensive midfielder, box-to-box midfielder, and even a second striker if needed. He missed the 1984 European Cup final against Liverpool due to injury and many believe that if he could play for Roma in that match, things could go differently. After winning five titles with Roma, Carlo Ancelotti joined Milan in 1987 and had an important role in another Italian club’s golden generation which won two back-to-back European Cups.

Roberto Pruzzo

As one of the best Italian forwards in his generation, Roberto Pruzzo started his career from Genoa. He was a crucial player for the club as he led them to win the Serie B title with his goals and therefore, Roma had to pay 3 billion liras to sign him from Genoa in 1979 which was a record bracing number back then. Pruzzo settled in Roma easily and proved his worth by scoring goals one after another.

During his 10-year spell at the club, Roberto Pruzzo won Serie A top scorer award three times and had a huge role in winning the 1983 league title as well. He also was the player who scored the equalizing goal in the 1984 final vs Liverpool. Pruzzo have 133 goals in 331 games to his name for Roma and that is more than enough to consider him one of the most crucial players in the golden generation of Roma.

Falcão

AS Roma and Brazilian players seems like a match made in heavens. Allison Becker, Cafu, and Aldair are just some of the impressive Brazilian footballers that made a name for themselves at Roma. But before them, it was Paulo Roberto Falcão aka Falcão who conquered the hearts of Romanistas with his brilliant footballing skills. Before moving overseas, Falcão was playing for the Brazilian side

and won eight titles with them. It was in 1980 when Roma signed the 27-year-old midfielder and the rest as they say, is history. Alongside superstars such as Rijkaard, Platini, Laudrup, Maradona, and Van Basten who played in Serie A during 80s, Falcão wrote his name in the league’s history as one of the best foreign players who blessed the Italian football.

 Due to his delightful performance at the club, the fans nicknamed him the eighth King of Rome and during a period of time, Falcão was the highest paid footballer across the globe. Except for the first leg match against Dundee, Falcão played in all matches during Roma’s 1984 European campaign. But in the final match, rumors had it that he refused to take a penalty during the shootouts which influenced on his relationship with the club. One year later, Falcão returned to Brazil but nonetheless, he remained one of the most popular Roma legends and surely deserves a spot on the

Roma all time XI

.

Bruno Conti

Arguably the best winger in Italian football history, was one of the key players in the golden generation of Roma. Being born in Rome,

started his professional career at AS Roma since 1973 when he was 18 years old. At the beginning of his career, managers didn’t believe in him suggesting that he doesn’t have the physical profile of a professional football player with 1.69 height. Therefore, Roma loaned him out to Genoa for two seasons. Finally in 1979, Conti came back to his beloved Roma and didn’t change colors until his retirement in 1991.

Conti used his small physics as a leverage and became one of the best dribblers in the world of football. In addition to eye catching technical abilities, Bruno Conti was as fast as a bullet and could tore down every defending line. He is also a legendary figure in the Italian national team as he had an undeniable role in helping Italy to win its third World Cup title in the 1982 tournament in Spain. Bruno Conti hanged up his boots at the end of 1990-91 season when he won his fifth Coppa Italia title with Roma and having more than 400 appearances in Giallorossi’s shirt.  

Agostino Di Bartolomei

In every generation of Roma teams, there is at least one homegrown leader that carries the team on his back. Lorenzo Pellegrini is the latest of the bunch, while Daniele De Rossi, Francesco Totti, Giuseppe Giannini, and Bruno Conti were the earlier Roman captains of the club. In

the golden generation of Roma

, it was Agostino Di Bartolomei who had that role and led the club in its most prosperous era. Agostino joined Roma youth academy as a kid and got promoted to the first team in 1972 as a 17-year-old prospect. In 1980, he became the first captain of a squad that turned out to be the best Roma team in history. Despite Di Bartolomei never played for Italian national team, he was one of the best players in the Serie A back then.

 An intelligent and at the same time hardworking midfilder who could also play at deeper positions in the defensive areas. Apart from his elegant skillset, Agostino Di Bartolomei was also known for his sportsmanship on the pitch and was respected even by the rivals. The charismatic leader lifted four trophies with Roma and did his part in the 1984 European final by converting the first penalty of the shootouts. Losing that final led to a dispute in Roma’s dressing room and Agostino Di Bartolomei left the club in the following summer. But he remained a die-hard Roma fan after that until his tragic death in 1994 at the age of 39. As one of the most beloved Roma legends, fans still sing Agostino Di Bartolomei’ name on the stands of Olimpico during Roma matches. 

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