Francesco Totti - Il Gladiatore di Roma

Congrats on the win, Knee-y'all

Inter beat Roma in SoTM anannananna

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Pauker: I chose Inter to win, dumbass

Francesco Totti has announced that AS Roma has completed its first deal of the January transfer window by bringing in Napoli captain Paolo Cannavaro for €1,400,000. The veteran defender has signed a contract until 2016 and will be on wages of €35,000 per week.

Despite having conceded only 12 goals in league play, the second strongest defense in the league, Roma has looked shaky on the defensive end at times and does not have the necessary depth at center back to help Mehdi Benatia and Leandro Castan. This is where Cannavaro will come into play as a solid backup that will be in and around the first team.

The 32 year old Italian started his career as Napoli before moving to Parma in search of first team football. Cannavaro made a name for himself at Parma as a tough tackling center back that read the game well and led the team from the back. After making 101 league appearances after 6 years at the club, Cannavaro moved back to Napoli, where he eventually became the captain. At his hometown club, Paolo made 224 Serie A appearances and scored 8 goals, becoming synonymous with the club.

Because of his leading role as captain there, Cannavaro’s exit from Napoli to league rivals Roma has been greeted with great disdain from fans of the Azzurri. Having already suffered a horrid start under Rafa Benitez and only small improvement under Luciano Spalleti, this will come as a major blow to Napoli’s morale.

“Paolo is a fantastic defender,” said Totti on his new man. “We have a good friendship and I am delighted to welcome him to AS Roma. I think he can be a good, calm head at the back for us and help lead us to glory.”

Cannavaro also expressed his happiness at joining the Giallorossi but also expressed thanks to Napoli, saying, “The fans in Naples have always been outstanding to me, and to wear the captain’s band there for many years was truly an honor. Now, though, I am very excited to start a new adventure in Roma and achieve great things at this rising club.”

With Cannavaro, Benatia, and Castan as the three main center backs at the club now, Nicolas Burdisso is expected to become a bit part player while promising youth stars Tin Jedvaj and Elio Capradossi are supposedly going to leave on loan to gain valuable first team minutes.

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WOW nice signing bit of experience and a legend!

Legend, no other word Great update

Really nice update Neal, is Paolo related to Fabio?

Cannavaro is shit mate xD

jasonvilla4ever: Thanks, hoping he can form a good partnership with Benatia back there

LFC: A seasoned Serie A veteran, that's for sure!

Jozef: Yes, younger brother to the famous Fabio

Pauker: He's actually quite good, a very solid defender that will hopefully shore up our back line.

Even though Napoli had gotten off to a horrid start under Rafa Benitez, things were starting to look sunny once again under new boss Luciano Spalleti. His Azzurri side have now won 6 straight Serie A games and earlier this week defeated Sampdoria to move on to the next round in the Coppa Italia, where they will host Roma. Before then, however, Napoli must entertain the league leading Giallorossi in the league.

It would be a return to the Stadio San Paolo for two AS Roma players; Morgan De Sanctis, the veteran goalkeeper who joined last summer, and Paolo Cannavaro, who left his post as captain of SSC Napoli just yesterday to join league rivals Roma, perfectly in time to play against his old employers. De Sanctis, as expected, was given the start, but Cannavaro had to make to do with a spot on the bench, at least to start.

The first chance fell to Napoli when new captain Marek Hamsik hammered a strike from long range toward his old teammate’s goal, only for De Sanctis to make an astounding stop to tip the ball onto the post Roma almost immediately bounced back when Francesco Totti brilliantly slipped in Adem Ljajic, but the Serb’s shot was expertly denied by Pepe Reina.

The rest of the first half was well fought, but on the stroke of half time, it seemed Napoli had taken the lead. Marek Hamsik’s long range shot again found the crossbar, but this time Gonzalo Higuain was the fastest to react, and the Argentine easily buried the follow up. His celebration were cut short, however, by the offside flag, and so at half time the score was 0-0.

In the second half, both sides shored up defensively, and neither team could muster any real chances. With slightly less than fifteen minutes left in the match, however, Paolo Cannavaro was introduced to the match in place of Mehdi Benatia and was greeted by raucous boos and coin being thrown down at him. To make things worse, Cannavaro changed the game.

With just a minute remaining, it was the ex-Napoli captain that searched out Adem Ljajic with a lovely lofted through ball, putting him through on goal. The attacker drifted past Reina with ease and slotted the ball into an empty net, careening back toward the Roma traveling contingent to celebrate his late winner.

“It was a very difficult, exciting game, but in the end we came out on top,” said Totti after the match, wearing a knee brace. He confirmed to the media, “Yes, I’ve picked up a knee injury, and I will unfortunately be out for 3 or 4 weeks, but the team will do fine without me.”

After their dramatic late victory, the Giallorossi sit atop Serie A by two points over two-time reigning champions Juventus. Roma continue their quest for a Scudetto next week when they host Catania at the Stadio Olimpico. Until then, here’s how the league table is looking:


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Good to see you still in first!

What are the odds that after 18 games, you emulate Roma's season in real life, basically?

Why do Juve always keep pressure on you haha good work so far with Roma!

BayernAmerica: Couldn't agree more haha

P-KIDDY: O.o that is actually...amazing!

k1rups: Cheers Krupesh, and yeah Juventus are hot on my tail!

Good to see you remain top of the table and nice signing in Cannavaro who will add some experience to your defence