Euroscene: Seventeen minutes into Roma's home clash with Juventus at the Olympic Stadium on Suday night, Roma captain Francesco Totti chested down a 40 yard crossfield pass from Brazilian team mate Lima. Totti was about 30 yards out from goal. His control was perfect, dropping the ball just in front of his feet, writes Paddy Agnew.
Nonchalantly, he looked up, measured his distance and unleased a right foot missile that crashed against the Juventus crossbar with goalkeeper Gigi Buffon beaten all ends up. That shot did not go in but the sheer, swashbuckling class of its execution boded ill for Juventus. In the end, the visitors were overwhelmed, drubbed 4-0 by Roma.
On a night when "Old Lady" Juventus began to show a few wrinkles, Roma pulled off arguably the most significant result of the European weekend. Juventus do not often find themselves on the wrong end of a 4-0 scoreline. In fact, the last time was against Lazio in October 1995, and you have to go back to March 1931 to find a heavier loss against Roma (5-0).
The comprehensive nature of the Juventus defeat was such that, inevitably and no doubt prematurely, the pundits were busy yesterday morning writing off Juve's Serie A title chances. In the wake of this defeat, Juventus now trail league leaders AC Milan by eight points with Roma three points clear of them in second.
For the pundits, however, and indeed for Juve's rivals, coach Marcello Lippi had some fighting words in the immediate aftermath of Sunday's disaster: "I tell you now, if anyone thinks that Juventus are about to throw in the towel, they can forget it. Maybe, in the end, we won't win the title this year but I tell you we will be there fighting it out right down to the last day. Things do not end here"
Despite his brave words, in his heart of hearts Lippi knows that he must now face up to some unexpected problems. For a start, the very defensive foundation of his side has been a'rocking and a'rolling all season long. This morning's Serie A table shows that Milan and Roma have conceded 10 and nine goals respectively in 20 games so far this season, whilst Juventus have let in no less than 25.
For a side built around the best Italian traditions of defensive solidity, these statistics are downright embarrassing. In particular, Lippi has a major problem in the centre of his defence where 32-year-old Uruguayan Paolo Montero is showing his years and where 26-year-old "new boy", ex-Chievo defender Nicola Legrotta has yet to acclimatise.
Equally worrying on Sunday night was the systematic extent to which Roma's Brazilians Emerson and Lima, aided by former Leeds United Frenchman Olivier Dacourt, completely outplayed Mauro Camoranesi, Alessio Tacchinardi and Antonio Conte in midfield.
Perhaps less worrying, although it remains to be seen, was the absence of Juventus star striker Alessandro Del Piero who watched the game from the grandstand, allegedly because of a muscular problem that might prove to have been more "diplomatic" than real.
As Juventus prepare for the all-vital March-April months of Champions League and Serie A deciders, will they live to regret off-loading combative Dutch midfielder Edgar Davids to Barcelona last month? Furthermore, has not the time come to re-instate Frenchman Lilian Thuram at his preferred centre back position, partnered perhaps by Croat Igor Tudor? Whilst Lippi struggles with those problems, Roma's Fabio Capello can surely look forward to a titanic tussle with AC Milan from here to the finish. Unbeaten for four months until January 6th, Roma have just gone through a a traumatic month which saw them lose three times consecutively to Milan (in league and cup) as well as most recently away to Brescia.
For Roma and Capello, the good news on Sunday night was that Italian football's most talented son, Totti, finally decided to stand up and be counted on the occasion of a big match, producing the performance of the season so far.
With Milan and Juventus both involved in the Champions League, Roma might yet draw some significant advantage from being involved in the less arduous UEFA Cup. With 27-year-old Totti now physically and mentally at the height of his powers, the future looks good both for Roma in Serie A and perhaps also for Italy at Euro 2004 in Portugal.
