Gasperini: Roma warned me... Winning the league is difficult
Gian Piero Gasperini, coach of the Italian football team Roma, ruled out winning the league title in his first season, indicating that the best thing they could do is qualify for the Champions League.
Gasperini, 67, replaced Claudio Ranieri at the end of last season, after the latter succeeded in lifting Roma out of their slump in his third stint with him, leading them to a fifth-place finish in the league with an impressive record of 16 wins, five draws, and just one loss since mid-December.
Since 2018, Roma has failed to finish in the top four and is still searching for its first league title since 2001. But with Gasperini's arrival, the capital club hopes to repeat what it achieved with Atalanta over the past nine seasons, participating in the Champions League four times and reaching the quarter-finals in the 2019-20 season. He also won the Europa League in 2024, giving them only their second title in their history after the 1963 domestic cup competition.
Regarding his next goal, Gasperini, who signed a three-year contract with Roma, said in statements on Tuesday during his official presentation as the team's coach: "Our best result would be to qualify for the Champions League. Currently, Roma cannot win the league, but who knows?"
He added: "My goal is to improve the team and build a strong group of players who can give us stability and form a foundation that will enable us to add more players who will raise the bar next season. That is my first objective."
Gasperini revealed: "Since my arrival, people have warned me about the atmosphere in Rome and the difficulty of achieving your goals on the football level for various reasons. I think this should be a strength, not a weakness. What I see is great enthusiasm, a great passion for football, and a tremendous desire to achieve certain goals. I believe all this energy should be directed in the right direction." For his part, Ranieri, who now serves as a strategic advisor to the club's American owners, explained: "I nominated Gasperini for Roma from among many other candidates because the club needs a strong personality, a coach who is not satisfied and always wants to improve." He continued: "We gave him a year to be understood by the players, and the fans should support him as they did me. He is an honest and loyal person. I will be his friend, I will stand by him, and I will also help him if he needs it."