Four fantastic scenarios on the return of Ranieri to Rome

It seems that the meat of Ranieri's butcher shop was among the best in Rome.

Claudio Ranieri spent very little time in his father's shop, being totally absorbed by football, but from the family business he received an ambiguous nickname that remained attached to him: "er fettina". Another name that was given to him in the neighborhood, at the time when young Claudio played in the youth Rome team, was that of "er pecione", since, as recalled by the president of Roma Club Testaccio Sergio Rosi: "he was just not a phenomenon as a player and when he kicked the ball he usually sent it always straight. Every once in a while, when he passed with his soccer bag, I told him. "Where are you going, you can't even play!" " 

Who was born and raised in Rome knows well that nicknames and teasing are the truest manifestations of sincere affection that can be found around the capital. Over the years Ranieri has been able to win the benevolence of the whole world and now he is back in Rome, his home, on the threshold of 70 years old, following a not written script, unpredictable but terribly romantic, just like Rome, the city of the impossible, of magical realism, the city in which sacred and profane have lived together for millennia, as Goethe said:

"In Rome there are vestiges of such magnificence and decay, which surpass, both, our imagination."

And then using our imagination we tried to imagine fantastic but totally plausible scenarios on the eve of the debut, to wish Claudio Ranieri good luck on the threshold of this old, new, adventure on the bench of As Roma. 

The perfect strip?

Despite a team in enormous difficulty, which has lost all tactical sense and which has seen every seasonal goal fade away (besides being decimated by continuous injuries), Claudio from Testaccio immediately conquers the locker room with firmness and great charisma: after a couple of difficult victories he concludes the championship with twelve victories in a row, bringing As Roma into the Champions League and giving it a defensive solidity that had not been seen in Trigoria for years. Juan Jesus becomes the pivot of the three-man defence, Coric replaces Nzonzi alongside De Rossi, Schick dismisses the mental coach and claims the throne of the attack, with a disgruntled Dzeko sold as soon as the business window is open. The team still does not have a tactical identity, but turns it into its own strength, adapting to each opponent from time to time, making life impossible for Juventus as well: beat four to zero, the cameras catch Francesco Totti who mimes the famous gesture of "all quiet, It's four, go home".

Ranieri is confirmed and signs a three-year contract. Unfortunately the following season the charge of the first months seems exhausted: As Roma goes out to the Champions League group, giving a historical qualification to the Qarabag and in Serie A it doesn't win for the first ten games. Schick disappears, literally: it will be found a few months later, unrecognizable, in the Czech Republic in the middle of a hippie commune on the outskirts of Prague. After a resounding defeat against Sampdoria, of which Giampaolo Pazzini became manager, Claudio Ranieri is exonerated in favor of the return of Di Francesco, who will be able to save the season by betting everything on Umar Sadiq at the center of the attack and Manganelli, purchased in January on a free transfer, as the new headlight of the Giallorossi midfield. 

Who manages who 

Daniele De Rossi sees his season fade after the first game with Claudio Ranieri. His notorious knee problem sharpens to the point of making him unavailable for the rest of the matches, but the Roman manager, aware of the captain's emotional importance, still carries him on the bench anyway. During some matches the cameras capture curious episodes: Ranieri turns to a stern-looking De Ross, shaking or nodding his head, De Rossi gets up from the bench and hands slips to Ranieri, De Rossi shouts to his teammates while Ranieri spends most of his time in silence. In the meantime, Roma started to win again with difficulty and the last of the season beats Milan and takes the fourth place thanks to a goal by Zaniolo.

The young man's celebration gives a perceivable embarrassment to the entire Olympic stadium, sold out for the occasion. Niccolò runs towards the bench and seems to want to go and hug Claudio Ranieri, who however remains motionless and with his arms folded; Zaniolo, in fact, overtakes him without looking at him and throws himself into Daniele De Rossi's arms. The two celebrate practically on their own, with teammates and spectators who after the roar of the goal are now silently watching. As he returns to the centre of the field Zaniolo points his fingers at the sky as his idol Kakà used to do and the cameras capture an unmistakable lip: "thank you Eusebio".

At the end of the season, Ranieri's contract is not renewed. After a few days, it is announced that the technical guide is entrusted to Daniele De Rossi, who in the summer will follow an accelerated course to obtain the coaching license and takes on Esuebio Di Francesco as second and Francesco Totti as ds. The first game of the following season is a bombastic victory, which triggers an invasion of the field because of which As Roma will play the rest of the season behind closed doors. 

Resilience

Despite a clear change of course in the mentality of As Roma players, Milan and Inter make more points and secure the remaining two places for the Champions League. Even if the only goal left was missed, Pallotta confirms Ranieri as leader of the team. No one is bought or sold in the summer transfer window, Rome starts again as it has finished. In the league, the performance is fluctuating, but in the Europa League, the team is a steamroller. The season in the championship ends with As Roma in sixth place, since Ranieri has explicitly declared that he wants to concentrate on the European Cup.

He actually arrives in the final against the Leicester trained by Eusebio Di Francesco, fresh winner of the English League Cup. After a boring game in which the teams cancel each other out, we arrive at penalties. Kluivert is wrong and Roma loses. At the end of the match, Ranieri resigns while Di Francesco dedicates the victory to Ramòn Monchi, who brought him in the team Domenico Berardi, Premier League's top scorer and author of the decisive penalty. 

Campo Testaccio

The first three league games amount to three defeats for Ranieri's "new" As Roma. The city is in turmoil, the Champions is far away, despite the other suitors are struggling too. With an extreme move Claudio Ranieri announces, in a press conference called on purpose, that he wants to move the team's operations to Campo Testaccio: from training to matches, everything is reported in the team's historic field.

Made usable in record time thanks also to the lack of presence of the mayor Virginia Raggi, who fled to South America with James Pallotta after the spark broke at the umpteenth meeting for the new stadium. As Roma is literally pushed by an unprecedented closeness of its fans to take the place in the Champions League. At the end of the season Claudio Ranieri is elected mayor of the city, continuing to maintain the position of coach of the team: with him at the calm guide, city and society are reborn; no more junk, around, restored ATAC budget, Schick reaches the double figures without effort and Totti returns to the field thanks to the witchcraft care of the holy man stolen, in a complicated market operation, to the president of Lazio Claudio Lotito.

Best of luck Mr Ranieri!