Champions League: Roma 1-3 Basel; upset brings up Claudio Ranieri issues again (Part 1)
One thing is for sure, the jaws of thousands of I Lupi fans must have dropped into the crevasses of the Earth when they witnessed Roma being defeated to a team from Switzerland.
It seemed that the situation at Rome was finally stabilizing as Roma buffed up to perform in the Champions League after producing some amazing performances in their domestic league, Serie A.
They had defeated the defending champions of the title from last season, Inter Milan, in a 1-0 thriller and had elevated themselves from the relegation zone, thanks to their last win, but the Champions League match once again proves
their worries are far from over.
Though they had finished at the 2nd position in the last season, in contrast, at the moment Roma has played 7 matches and scored just 8 points from them.
Nonetheless, the Italian league is at a very complicated stage where most of the clubs are at the same points; therefore, the important thing for Roma is that they are at the 13th position in the table, way clear of
where they were before.
This poor form has lead club administration, fans, experts and pundits to doubt the capabilities of Claudio Ranieri once again. Now it is speculated that the prospect of continuing him as a coach might be just too harmful as the
Italian greats have once again been thwarted to a lesser side.
It’s not that Ranieri is a manager who is inexperienced and doesn’t know how to cope with pressure; as a matter of fact, he won the Swiss title twice so when the team was up against Basel it seemed like child’s play to beat them.
The worst part of the defeat was that the Italian club had fallen down at home, in their home ground Olimpico. The shocking defeat of 3-1 was one of the crucial matches for Roma, as if they had managed to with against the Swiss
club, they would have gained a big advantage in the Champions League’s Group E.
It was Alexander Frei who drew first blood and afterwards it was midfielder Marco Borriello who had to step up and provide the Italian team with a leveler. The impact of Samuel Inkoom was also quite evident, as he launched in just
before the break.
Basel clearly came up with the better game and though they lost the possession of the ball for very large periods, they were in the end good enough to make plays and attempt to score.
In the end, it was Jerson Cabral who scored the winner for Basel and sent the Swiss club back home victorious.
It was an early lead by Basel when Frei came up with a good run and produced a screamer that was launched into the back of the net.
Just 12 minutes after the starting whistle, it was a superb left footed strike from Frei that caused the tensions to spark up. After that Marco
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