And the day came when Europe discovered Rome. Garcia's team hits the Champions League stage with the force of a hurricane, albeit with the help of a non-existent opponent for most of the match. Even this, however, is to be considered a merit of the giallorossi, able to isolate themselves from the pressures of the square and to bite the match from the first minutes.
In short, everyone was happy, apart from Capello who arrived on purpose from Moscow to "admire" the pair of central defenders Ignashevic-Berezutski and the goalkeeper Akinfeev. But the Russia coach immediately understood that the scene would be taken by the Roma forwards, above all Gervinho. The Ivorian is simply devastating, who is beginning to combine goals with a certain continuity to his usual unstoppable bucking, with the result of appearing almost like an illegal weapon. First the assist for Iturbe (6') for an easy one-on-one goal with Akinfeev, then the do-it-yourself right foot after a terrific control, which literally blew up the Olimpico. The 2-0 after 10 minutes could also have distracted Roma and in fact CSKA had a sensational opportunity to close the gap but De Sanctis, cold and lucky, nipped Doumbia's dreams in the bud.
From 2-1 to 3-0 the road was short, precisely 4 minutes: the time needed to detonate the dynamite from Maicon's right foot, albeit with the enormous complicity of the embarrassing (right Capello?) Akinfeev. Smooth road and Rome on velvet, with everything that goes with it. Because when the Giallorossi can play smoothly they become lethal for anyone, let alone for the unprepared and inadequate CSKA of the Olimpico. Poker arrived in the 31st minute again with him, the elusive Gervinho, who first looked at Florenzi (who came on for the injured Iturbe after 25') in the area, then did it all by himself, finding his personal brace. In short, a script already written at the end of the first half, further embellished by Ignashevich's own goal (51') which will have created quite a few disturbances to Capello's sleep and barely modified by the final marked by CSKA. After finding the goal of the flag (Musa in the 82nd minute) the Russians had two more clear goals and one would even have entered the scoreboard if the goal judge hadn't made a sensational blunder (ouch, ouch Platini!).
Roma's party is still perfect, also because good news has arrived from Munich (Bayern 1-0 over City). The next match will be against Pellegrini's English side: should it go well, the Giallorossi would really head towards a sensational qualification. “We started off on the right foot, we will go to Manchester with confidence – admitted Garcia in the press conference. – We will play every match openly, but now let's think about Cagliari. I have a large squad, I want to fight on several fronts and always play to win." Already. This Rome has all the air of being serious, in Italy and in Europe.
