What happened? Last I knew, Roma had finished second in the Serie A, made some interesting Summer transfers (Phillipe Mexes, Matteo Ferrari, Simone Perrota) and appointed an up and coming manager (Cesare Prandelli) in place of the departed Fabio Capello.

Now, with the group phase of the Champions League over everything is in tatters:

1. Cesare Prandelli left before the season began due to personal matters.
2. In comes manager #3, one-time Roma striking sensation Rudi Voeller, who then proceeds to guide the team to one shocking Serie A loss after another before quitting less than a month later.
3. Roma decide appoint Luigi Del Neri, who had not only recently left FC Porto under bizarre circumstances himself but has also been said to be aware of match-fixing but not having done anything about it.
4. Roma’s talented but moody forward Antonio Cassano begins to act like an enfant terrible again and mutually decides with Del Neri to “train alone”. AS Roma Addict summed up the situation with the troublemaker: “Do you feel like Maradona? Then play like him.”
5. On Machday One of the Champions League, UEFA Referee Anders Fisk gets whipped in the head by a projectile flung by a Roma “fan”. His blood spilling across the Olimpico pitch, Fisk calls the game at half-time, awarding a 2-0 result to Dynamo Kiev and condemning Roma to a UEFA censure that orders the club’s remaining home matches in the Champion’s league group phase to be played behind close doors.
6. The Roma defence has begun resemble a sieve, as neither Mexes nor Ferrari are able to settle into a form that prevents the Giallorossi from leaking goals.
7. Francessco Totti, the reigning Emperor of Rome, heart and soul of the Roma squad and the team’s mercurial playmaker, is strongly linked to Real Madrid due to the italian club’s mounting debts.
8. Which brings us to today, where Roma have surrendered a 3 goal cakewalk to Real Madrid in what may the be the most insipid European football match ever played (complete with a horrfically empty Stadio Olimpico).

Roma have gone from potential title challengers to instant mediocrity within the blink of an eye. This is devestating to Giallorossi fans everywhere.

Oh well, all the more reason I guess to sink deeper into the football fan’s opium that is known as Football Manager 2005.