The big party is safe. Roma wins against Genoa and thus obtains second place in the standings, the last useful place to enter the Champions League through the front door. Totti's farewell, who has been on the field since the 8th of the second half, thus avoids turning into a day to forget and can instead be associated with a very important result, not to mention fundamental in next season's planning.
However, beating Genoa was not as easy as we thought on the eve, indeed the afternoon at the Olimpico was lived on the razor's edge for a long time, with Juric's rossoblu acting as a killjoy and Sarri's Napoli hoping to overtake until the end. Perotti's goal in almost expired time sent the Giallorossi into orbit and left a bitter taste in the Azzurri's mouth, forced to pass from the "gauntlets" of the summer playoffs to enter the most important European competition.
Crazy match that of the Olimpico, with Genoa immediately in front with the young Pellegri (3', it is the first goal of a 2001 in Serie A) and Roma chasing, fighting, fighting, all in an atmosphere of general distraction for the Totti Event. Dzeko's immediate equalizer (10', decisive for winning the top scorer) seemed to be able to put everything back in place, instead the Giallorossi, thanks to the news arriving from Marassi, trudged through uncertainty and anxiety. In the 36th minute Mertens scored the blue 0-1, 6' later Insigne doubled the lead: Napoli were temporarily in the Champions League.
In Genoa, the swirl of goals continued into the second half (Hamsik 49', Quagliarella 51', Callejon 65', Alvarez 90') and ended with a 2-4 draw in favor of Sarri's men, in Rome instead things remained unchanged and this scared the 65 Olimpico crowd a lot, just heartened by Totti's entry into the field (53'). In the 73rd minute De Rossi made it 2-1 and blew up the yellow and red people, in what seemed to be a splendid handover between the current and future captain, but then Lazovic found the 2-2 and Rome sank into despair. reliving (in a small way, God forbid) the nightmares of the famous match against Lecce over 30 years ago.
But with time practically up, Perotti's 3-2 arrived and the Giallorossi thus overtook Genoa and Napoli in one fell swoop, giving Totti a day to remember and themselves a sense of the season that had just ended.
“It's a great achievement, an exceptional result – commented Spalletti – I congratulate Genoa because they played a great game but we are enjoying the result. Totti? It was a very touching day, it was impossible not to get involved in the general emotion”.
"The time has come and I have to say thanks to all of you - Pupone's words on the Olimpico lawn - I'm not ready to say enough, maybe I will never be, but this time it's really over, I take off my shirt for the last time. Proud and happy to have given you what I could. I love you".
The story with Roma is officially over, at least on the pitch: because the future is not yet written and Francesco could still stay, albeit in other guises.
