In this biographical piece on Claudio Ranieri’s chapters in Rome, Wayne Girard recounts the homegrown tactician’s path in becoming a managerial legend of A.S. Roma.
Claudio Ranieri slowly lifted the airplane window, revealing the meditative glow of the Mediterranean. He glanced downward, tilting his wrist to see the face of his watch. The plane was now descending from its long and beautiful flight that performed miracles over England, fought for redemption in Sardinia, and always landed back in Rome. His illustrious career was said to be over, if but for answering the call for the club most dear to his heart.
Fiumicino Airport was absolutely buzzing that late afternoon. By the sea of carmine red and golden yellow scarves, one would think A.S. Roma had just signed a superstar, rather than an old friend who came to lend a helping hand. Some 200 fans wrangled each other for a glimpse of the legendary manager as he was quickly ushered into the back of a black Mercedes-Benz sedan by higher ups from the Carabinieri.
Back when he was first appointed to his hometown club in 2009, analog cameras were taking their last snapshots and cigarettes were still smoked inside. In the span of almost 20 years, much of the world had changed, and he was no exception. At the end of every chapter between clubs, he returned and left a greater version of himself, building a reputation for quelling perilous situations, re-inspiring wayward teams, and giving them a return to stature. While his sensational win of the English Premier League title in 2016 is what most of the football world will remember him for, his story back home is different. In the city where thumping scooter engines serenade tableside maritozzi, the man who always answered Roma’s call would one day receive a victor’s parade and depart as the Sixth Good Emperor.
Just a boy from Rome
Where bronze plated chariots once battled for a nose ahead, Circus Maximus is located in the heart of Rome. Adjacent to the ruins is the San Saba neighborhood, often regarded as a hidden gem of the city due to its quiet streets and cobblestone piazzas affronting millenia-old-churches.
If the ecclesiastic nature of San Saba harbored peace and calm for a butcher’s son, it came to a crossroad with the slaughterhouses of Testaccio. During the 1960s, the working class neighborhood embodied temptation – drinking, rebellion, and teenagers hanging out after the streetlights came on. Banners for the Giallorossi draped over the apartment balconies. The passion for the team ran deep, and it became emblazoned in his heart.
Just one of the neighborhood boys, young Ranieri’s youth was spent playing ball on the church courtyard. By 16-years-old his talent caught the eye of ‘Dodicesimo Giallorosso,’ a club in the peripherals of Roma and well regarded as a launching pad for the more gifted players. Just five years later, he was living every boy in Rome’s dream, even if it was short lived. Claudio the young man was able to play with and under a few iconic names that 1972/73 season. His coach, Helenio Herrera, became regarded as the first superstar manager due to his profound motivational skills, and pioneered the Grande Inter of the 1960s.
His contemporary, Agostino Di Bartolomei, went on to become one of the Roma’s most storied captains. Both these figures played a role in shaping Ranieri’s character between Ranieri’s seriousness and ability to get the most out of his players, paired with the calm yet professional demeanor that Di Bartolomei brought to his game.
The majority of Ranieri’s playing days were spent on the rugged, baked fields of Southern Italy, which added a certain grit to his game. Developing into a veteran defender with Catanzaro, he floated between the two big Sicilian clubs, winning a promotion with Catania, and copied the accomplishment with Palermo. Those wins taught him a thing or two on gaining redemption.
In his first big managerial job, he took Cagliari from Serie C1 all the way to Serie A in back to back years. Ranieri’s team was fluid, contrasting the stereotypical Catenaccio so many managers in Italian football relied upon. Rather than rigid, he was often changing formations several times throughout a match, with a willingness to try new things and be bold. There’s often little space for revolutionaries in Italy, but the ‘Tinkerman’ as he became known as, had thoughts on football that rivaled Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations.
He gave Gianfranco Zola his first go, as he tried to handle Napoli’s financial woes and fallout with Diego Maradona; won another leap into the top flight with Fiorentina in 1995; led the Viola in their adventure to win the Coppa Italian and Supercoppa the following year; and even notched a 15 match unbeaten streak to go along with the silverware. Have we noticed a pattern?
Ranieri then took tours around Europe for several years. First in Iberia as he brought cups to Valencia and tried to plug a downward Atletico Madrid, and then built the base for what would become a magnificent Chelsea. Once back in Italy, he helped Parma escape relegation earning more points in ten matches than his predecessor had in more than double the amount of games played. For every club he worked, he was regarded for trimming the fat (he was a butcher’s son after all), reinvigorating the locker room, and being a gentleman of the game. If it all ended there, it would have been a quite-fine career. But one day, he knew his road would lead back home.
The early part of the 2000s was a multitude of dramas for Roma. As soon as they reached the highest of highs with the 2000/01 Scudetto, the club then faced an exodus of players and managers. There were public disputes between Fabio Capello and the ownership, missing checks to pay out wages, and even a season long transfer ban after the illegal signing of Philippe Mexes. The Antonio Cassano investment was supposed to help the Giallorossi retain glory, but the most Francesco Totti’s divinity could muster was a row of second place finishes with an ever-revolving cast of teammates. The era of Luciano Spalletti was fruitful with two Coppa Italia titles and one Supercoppa, but without reclaiming the Scudetto and a lack of reinforcements, even his motivation dwindled.
The organization lost a bit of direction in spite of the success, and chaos increased behind the scenes. It bled onto the pitch, and with a poor start to the 2009/10 season, he resigned. It’s easy to blame the early losses against Genoa and Juventus, but Roma’s limited transfer activity and declining team performance (they finished sixth the season before) meant Roma were a slowly sinking ship.
If only there was an individual with a habit of getting a team back on track. Someone from the city, who understood its noise and the pressure built by the media. Roma’s board looked around, and found a coach who sat without a job after being a savior and foundation builder to many clubs before. It just so happened that he was not just Roman born, but oozed red and gold.
A reinvigorated Roma – The 2009/10 season
The first five matches were positive, as Ranieri collected 11 points, but the real goal reinforcing belief within the squad. A handful of losses was a reminder that there would be no magic wand, and a new strategy was needed for scoring without a pure striker.
Getting the veterans to follow his lead and figuring out how to utilise Jeremy Menez would be hurdles, but in these growing pains was the start of something special – and they almost achieved something very special by its end.
Following the lull, Roma went on an absolute tear, taking the league by storm with a 24 match unbeaten streak. There were five matches in particular that made Ranieri into the tragic hero of the time:
8/11/09 Inter-Roma 1-1
A bloodbath at the San Siro. Mirko Vucinic had something special in his breakfast that morning, as he roved through the final third and Inter could do little to get a hold of him. His header floated into the upper 90 of the goal for an early lead, and Mourinho retaliated by deploying his most tenacious defence. Inter drew level in the middle of the second half, non-coincidentally right after De Rossi was substituted off with a head injury. Thiago Motta ought to have gotten a red card for a crunching tackle against Jeremy Menez, who had done well to pester him throughout the match.
Roma was right there, Ranieri had something evolving, and they ought to have come away from Milan with three points. In time, oh in time.
6/12/09 Roma-Lazio 1-0
Ranieri used the positive wave of emotion off the back of Inter for the first leg of the Derby della Capitale. Forever Italy’s fiercest rivalry, Ranieri knew he had to harness concentration without letting the buzz overtake control.
Lazio chose to hang striscioni, or banners of their ultras being investigated for drug dealing and extortion, and the lowly display brought on such a large whistle from the Curva Sud that set the tone for a tense showdown.
It became one of Totti’s finest nights, backed by De Rossi who was now back in action with a protective face mask. From the captains down, the attacking unit who oozed with such flair, and even Philippe Mexes was turning up the heat before being replaced for the second half – much to his dissatisfaction, at the start of the second half. Ranieri chose to tighten the reins on him as he had been involved in a few hard tackles. Replacing the centre-defender full-back Marco Cassetti was bold, and obvious intent to not just play, but win this game.
A quarter of an hour into the second half, Julio Sergio made perhaps the finest save in the Derby’s history, as he dove across a wide open net to fingertip a screaming shot over the crossbar. In the 77th minute, no.77 then hit a cross from Vucinic first-time, and curled into the back of the net. Ranieri’s gamble on Cassetti seemed divine, as the manager then gritted his teeth, pumping his hands together in triumph. Ranieri’s Roma had arrived!
23/1/10 Juve-Roma 1-2
The Tinkerman must have gotten a great deal of satisfaction when he bested his ex-employer. In extremis. Matches between Roma and Juventus always had a certain vitriol, and the grand conclusion on the night of January 23rd was an explosion inside the visiting side’s settore.
Totti stepped on for new loanee Luca Toni just eight minutes in after the striker felt a twinge, but the real drama started in the second half. The captain converted from the penalty spot to beat a monolithic Gianluigi Buffon who did guess the right way. This answered Alessandro Del Piero’s classy left-footed goal, and the catalyst came when Buffon was sent off with just seven minutes remaining. He rushed out of the box when John Arne Riise broke past Ciro Ferrara’s back four, cleaning the Norwegian’s clock in front of net.
In 90+3’, David Pizarro won a brilliant slide tackle and regained possession in the middle of the pitch. Surging forward, he scanned his options. The regista released a long diagonal pass to Riise, who was sneaking into the penalty area from the left-hand side. It looked so effortless as the left-back pulled his head above his hands, poking the ball across the frame and over the goal-line. A special comeback away from home against an old foe, all achieved in just a half hour. Capitalising on momentum, and showing no fear away from home.
27/3/10 Roma-Inter 2-1
If the draw against Inter had forebode a change that past November, the cold winter air galvanized Roma into something much stronger. When Mourinho’s side visited the Olimpico late March, the sting from the first leg had Roma playing with a chip on their shoulder. When Totti’s long ball flew some 45 yards to Nicolas Burdisso, he headed it into the danger area and the loose ball was put away by a sliding De Rossi.
Inter returned fire, but Roma took the lead once more through winter window arrival, Luca Toni. He pivoted at the top of the box, finishing low and hard. De Rossi swung on the crossbar in ecstasy, and it was looking like the team that would go on to win the treble had met their match.
Diego Milito scared the home team as he hit the post, but by its conclusion, Roma had temporarily dethroned the best team on the planet. Was this the same team that looked so downtrodden last September?
18/4/10 Lazio-Roma 1-2
Beating your fraternal enemy is never that simple though, even if they’re sitting fifth from the bottom. You might be stronger, more handsome, more skilled, but there’s a viscerality that allows emotions – and often heroics – to overcome form or class. In the first half of the second leg of the Derby della Capitale, Lazio were all over Roma. Tommaso Rocchi slid one past Julio Sergio, and when the referee called for a penalty kick in favour of Aleksandar Kolarov, the feeling of doom set in. Roma were nervous, and by the match’s end, they’d be dealt eight yellow-cards – their most that season. In attack, they couldn’t even manage one shot on target through the first 45 minutes.
Only a brave act of genius could turn the tide. And at the start of the second half, Ranieri did the unthinkable – he removed Totti and De Rossi from the match. The stadium fell silent.
“They felt the game too much,” he recounted.
A minute into the second half, Roma conceded a penalty kick. Was it bravery, or lunacy?
But courage always belongs to the bold, and Julio Sergio offered him that fortune. His save against Sergio Floccari was even more of a catch than a block, and it caused the pendulum of the match to swing in the opposite direction. Less than five minutes later, Kolarov caused a penalty again, but this time in favour of the other color, when he caught Taddei inside the box. Mirko Vucinic nailed it, and the sounds inside the stadium were more akin to a Roma home match, rather than being the visiting side in this leg.
The striker then scored the game winner in what must be one of the hardest shots in Italian football history. Go to 2:08 in the video below, as no word-smithing can do justice to the fireball from the Montenegrin:
Ranieri had set everything into place: A miraculous comeback, defeats to all three arch rivals, and a squad turned into a family. Roma though, is known for one more thing along with the magic, most passionate fan bases, and most beautiful kits – and that is, tragedy. Tragedy can be defined in many ways, whether it’s the physical loss of life (Di Bartolomei), crooked councils getting in the way of stadium developments (Stadio della Roma), or even to succumbing goals against former players – the dreaded gol dell’ex.
If ex-players really do come back to haunt their past lives, there’s no truer case than Antonio Cassano and Roma. For a player who ultimately regretted his behavior and departure from the club, it’s his on-field actions that dealt the club its most costly loss. On the back of derby delirium, Roma had the Scudetto in reach as they had just overtaken Inter in the league table.
25/4/2010 – The Sampdoria disaster
In the first half against Sampdoria on the 25th of April, Roma were pounding the away side. They just needed to win out the remaining four (easier) matches, and Totti provided the early lead, and looked likely to score the second. Marco Storari had other ideas, playing as if he’d made a deal with the Devil for one last supernatural performance.
In a dark tale of two halves, Cassano then broke Guillermo Burdisso on the right side outside the 18-yard-box, as Jeremy Menez dropped for double cover and pretended to help. Giampaolo Pazzini pounced on the far post to draw level. Marco Storari made save after save, as if fueled by some anti-Roma potion. Pazzini scored again, just five minutes before the end of the match and Roma were doomed.
There were many calls for two potential penalties and punishment for nasty tackles against Roma players, but it was futile. The 24 match unbeaten streak was over, it was a true cursed match. The Maledetta of 2010.
Years passed, faces around Roma changed, but the club had failed to get in touching distance since. One great moment came as Roma ought to have been given the penalty to help them draw level in the 2017 Champions League semi-final, but another no-call seemed yet another Maledetta. Just as with Spalletti, Eusebio Di Francesco had trouble finding results after a traumatic event from the previous season’s finale.
The average league result of the 2018/19 season was just one point, but the context was worse. The Giallorossi got thumped by Lazio and were then knocked out in the Champions League by Porto after heading into the second leg of the Round of 16 with a goal advantage. Then, the club were humiliated in Florence, crashing out of the Coppa Italia quarter-final with a 7-1 scoreline.
Eight years later, Ranieri was once again called upon. The comeback seemed more of a favour, given Ranieri had little to prove after accomplishing the Leicester City miracle. His intervention was a return to form, as Roma claimed six wins in the last 11 rounds, drawing against Inter and beating Juventus, who would win the Scudetto.
He handed over the reins to Paulo Fonseca, in what seemed a net positive as the Portuguese manager had his own well-thought methods. It all came to little though, and La Magica were anything but, failing to break 63 league points in the following four seasons, and failing to qualify for Champions League football.
Time passed. He took Cagliari into the second division, and then winning promotion back to Serie A. That in itself was a heroic task. , and through the years he remained a friend to the city, as the fans reminded him when Cagliari visited the Olimpico in February 2024.
November 2024 – The cavalry is here!
Conjure an image of 73-year-old Ranieri basking in a lettino under the Sardinian sun one fine afternoon, with few cares in the world and a full heart after such an accomplished career. A fine day in retirement, surely, until his mobile rang and the contact on the lock screen read ‘Dan Friedkin.’ He could have chosen to let it ring. To just be, and enjoy. But when Roma calls, as he’s now infamously quoted, he has to “say yes.”
And his beloved were down in a bad way. After almost three seasons of lackluster results in the league, Jose Mourinho felt the swing of the axe. Sitting in ninth and being eliminated from the Coppa Italia by rivals Lazio were too much to bear. Former captain and hometown boy Daniele De Rossi was appointed before February, winning all but one of his first eight matches (the loss was against Scudetto-winning Inter Milan). They were edged out of the Europa League in the semi-finals against Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen, but climbed back up the table to finish in sixth, which guaranteed a return to the Europa League the following season. De Rossi, who had now become even more adored by the tifosi, was awarded with a three year contract as it was announced he would be the Roma coach for the “foreseeable future,” as announced by the club.
Roma struggled to gain a win in the early rounds of the 2024/25 Serie A season, yet it was still shocking when De Rossi was given his marching orders. Seasoned Serie A coach Ivan Juric arrived at Trigoria less than six hours later, becoming the third coach in the calendar year. What must have seemed like a golden opportunity for the Croatian yet Italian-mainstay quickly turned into a nightmare for him, and Roma. After 12 matches, the Giallorossi were in a freefall, sitting one point above relegation and at the bottom of the Europa League. Cue in Bonnie Tyler’s ‘Holding out for a Hero.’
Back to Fiumicino, and Ranieri received a welcome more fitting for Aurelian – the ancient emperor best known for reuniting the fractured empire and fortifying Rome with stone walls, and providing sustenance for the plebeians. His first order of business was to shore up those walls inside the squad with a cohesive game plan – and most importantly – uniting the group into a team, and making them believe in themselves once again.
The woes
There were many individual issues that fractured the collective: After Roma’s €100m summer, two of the marquee players of the transfer window had largely underperformed. Artem Dovbyk, who came over from Girona as La Liga’s leading goal scorer, failed to hit the mark in the first three matches, and scored just thrice from the end of September up to the back-end of December. A striker who built his career inside the penalty box, he was being forced into a buildup forward, and was visibly discomforted.
Matias Soule meanwhile, was a major investment as one of Europe’s greatest prospects. He was a crack at Frosinone, signing him from rivals Juventus shocked Italian football. But in just a few months, it seemed that the Old Lady played her cards right.
Roma’s board must have seen him as the replacement to Paulo Dybala, who had been more than just flirting with mega offers from Saudi Arabia. But as his countryman decided at the last second not to climb the steps and board the private plane, Roma were suddenly left with the salary of their star right-winger, and his replacement. Dybala, one of the finest talents in his generation and last great no.10 of Italian football, continued to start while Soule’s talent rotted on the bench.
In the moments Soule did get, he felt the effects of a team in disarray. He found himself unable to find space on the pitch, disconnection with teammates, and lack of strategy in the managerial merry-go-round. Then the whispers started of a winter exit. By mid-February, he’d earned just a solitary goal in a loss to Verona, and zero assists.
There was one individual error after another that led to goals, even from concentrated veterans like Leandro Paredes. Contrasting the late summer heat, the atmosphere grew cold around Trigoria. The days of consecutive stadium sellouts were over.
Ranieri’s first order of business was to carve out an identity in formation. Juric’s so called ‘hardcore football’ essentially converted Dybala into a wing-back, so he was logically restored to a more free role on the right flank and ply his craft. The 3-4-2-1 setup allowed defensive cohesion matched by direct counter-attacks with Dovbyk at the end, or La Joya creating his own space.
The second order entailed turning a disarrayed group into an organised unit. Many players – newcomers and veterans alike – suffered psychological effects from several years of mediocre results, a tragic refereeing decision in the 2023 Europa League final, the frequency of new managers, and disappointment from the fans.
But before any prosperity, Ranieri had to extinguish a few more fires and try to steer the emotional climate. When Roma lost to Napoli, then at home to Atalanta by two, there were even doubts if Ranieri could really steady a ship that seemed to be sinking faster than the Titanic.
His post-press reaction was not of a manager who blamed his players, nor did he pretend everything was roses. Instead, he reassured his team that their direction was the most important thing of all:
These are moments where if you keep pushing, you will be able to turn those incidents your way…There are no easy games, I already told them that the next match will be even tougher than this one.”
“If the team continues to follow me the way it has been, we will get hold of this situation. We must keep fighting, we must not surrender to adversity. I never accepted a player giving up. We must react and fight for every ball, until we are exhausted, and every substitution I made tonight was caused by exhaustion…
“I congratulate Atalanta on their victory, but also wish to congratulate my team for the performance.”
A statement, if handled by a different manager, could have condemned the club to a bleak future. Instead, Ranieri encouraged his team to follow him out of the crisis, keep fighting the good fight, and never give up.
It was a courageous thing to say. It was Roman. It was Ranieri.
The vintage turnaround
He was heard, and the words were felt. After failing to score more than two goals in a match since September, Roma put four past Lecce with four different goal scorers, had a hiccup against in-form Como, and then doused Parma with five goals at the Olimpico with another quadrant of marksmen
In the New Year, Roma started off with a bang
Even captain Lorenzo Pellegrini returned to the fold after several years of waning performance. Angelino was given a license to kill on the left, and it was as if Roma had signed a new star player. Mile Svilar was readying to stand on his head too, and the full moon was pulling the tide in a different direction.
Ranieri, knowing what the Derby della Capitale means to a Roman, gave Pellegrini the start on the left, defying many voices. But who better than Ranieri knows the visceral emotions that run through a boy from Rome, what it means to him and his people, and that special sense of duty the armband instills.
The goal from Lorenzo was a sublime take, using his two runners as distractions, getting the ball out from under his feet to spear it into the back of the net like a Roman legionary releasing his pilum. It was an immense relief of pressure for the captain that flowed off the backs of the entire team. It also meant that Ranieri had become the manager with the most derby wins, with his fourth over Lazio.
Out of the fire, Ranieri was awarded as February’s Serie A Coach of the Month, winning all but one match with a draw against title winning Napoli. The magic returned, and with it, the Curva Sud waved its flags ever more fiercely. Even players like Mehmet Celik were salvaged, who was converted into a right-centre-back, and looked quite adept at it as well.
Roma went undefeated in 2025 until match day 36, winning 14 out of 18. With the win against Inter, La Lupa was one point away from the Europa League, and just two from the Champions League as the Old Lady started to sweat. An incredible relationship was formed between players and boss, a true phoenix moment in A.S. Roma’s history.
And through that bond, even the disillusioned newcomers started to perform. Soule made the most of Dybala’s injury absence, claiming four wins with decisive goals and an assist against Parma, Empoli, Verona, and even downed Inter at the San Siro. His one-time shot outside the 18-yard-box to draw level in the final derby was the top goal of the season. He created an assist in each of the three last match days, showcasing his talent and vitality to the cause.
Dovbyk meanwhile, went on to determine the match seven times scoring eight goals and creating three assists in just 14 matches, and finished the season with four more than Edin Dzeko’s inaugural in Rome.
By the end of April, Roma achieved the second most league points across Europe’s top five with 47 points across the last 20 rounds, and only two behind the domestic goliath Paris Saint-Germain. After beating Fiorentina on May 4th, they’d achieved the most.
Ranieri portaled his team into sixth place, going on an 19 match undefeated run after beating Inter Milan at the San Siro and removing their upper hand in the Scudetto race. It even bested Spalletti’s streak in 2016. A dejected Inter continued to stumble, failing to capitalise on the penultimate matchday of the season. This is now recounted as the moment of vengeance for Roma’s slipup in 2010.
If Ranieri is the last Good Emperor or a tragic hero is a point that Romanisti will contend for ages. When Roma’s streak finally came to an end in Bergamo against the reigning Europa League champions, it could have been taken that as far as he’d brough Roma, they ultimately fell short of the Champions League dream.
Roma won out the season, even beating Milan in the penultimate round, in what would be Ranieri’s last in front of his publicus. The Curva Sud’s tifo was incredible – a sea of red and yellow flags spelling out his name and the club, together as one:
The legacy
Juventus claimed the fourth spot after their loanee at Venezia caused a penalty kick that the Bianconeri converted. Italy was stripped of its fifth spot when Lazio were eliminated from the Europa League. Perhaps the Maledetta prevailed, but what can’t be taken away is that Roma became the highest drawn team for the pot in the 2025/26 Europa League season, with a legendary turnaround that forged a family.
After beating Milan, he gave a rare but understandable outpour of emotion:
“Being appreciated by your people is something wonderful. The team never fell apart, they have worked as a team and have always helped each other – and for this, in that difficult situation, when everything seems black, I am truly happy for them, the fans, the president, and everyone.
“I told them I needed help, even from the fans. They’re good and gave me that confidence. When I arrived, morale was low. Even in Naples the team was up for it, at Tottenham we played a great game. I ask my players to fight until the end…
“I did this job for the emotions that football can give, positive and negative ones, all must be accepted. The evening is one to remember, for the affection and love that the fans showed me. I’m happy we had difficulties, they never gave up, and understood my language. I had to raise my voice a few times, it says a lot about the intelligence of this locker room… I leave a solid group, players who train at a thousand miles an hour. I don’t want to say they are friends but they coexist well with each other.
“Certainly what I experienced with the curva, the stadium, it’s certainly beautiful… The time has come to review my career… I don’t walk much but I believe in dialogue, loyalty, and mutual respect. I am myself, I speak clearly to your face, I’m not afraid to say things. I have never scolded one of my players, or blamed him for something. You work to improve. I don’t know if it’s a secret but I try to bring out the best in everyone.
“Now let me put my arms down (laughs). I could stay, but no. We need another coach otherwise we would lose a year. I wouldn’t want this for my Roma.”
The last line just echoes on the integrity and character of such a great man.
There are the parallels of drawing Ranieri into the line of Good Emperors that set Rome on track after periods of chaos and disorder. What makes and made Ranieri into legend though, is not his stateliness or appeasement towards the Roman public. But that he, a boy from the streets of Rome, dutifully served his home through eternal love.
Un amore eterno, grazie Claudio Ranieri