The Roma anthem sounded different tonight at the Olympic stadium. For the first time, the temple of calcium in the Italian capital has been the scene of a women's football match. Never before had the Giallorrossa fans been able to cheer on their players from this place. The occasion was also memorable: Roma, a rookie team in the top European championship, hosted FC Barcelona for the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals.
“I have dreamed of playing in the Olympic Games for 30 years. And then we train for this, to face the strongest. We have nothing to lose, only to gain. The only promise I make to the fans is that we will give our hearts to each other on the field," said the captain of Roma since its creation, Elisa Bartoli, before the match.
The victory of Barcelona, by 0 to 1, was not the result that the Romanists wanted. But the night had already been a blow on the table for Italian women's football.
Normally the women's Roma play at the Tre Fontane stadium, a small field in the Eur neighborhood, south of the capital, with capacity for only 4,000 spectators. It is also used for the men's youth teams, and, although in recent years the women's championship has gathered a significant audience, it was not ideal for the Champions League quarterfinals. Starting because there is a lack of lighting, and therefore it is not possible to play games at night. There are also no numbered seats, a requirement for European competitions. For this reason, Roma sometimes have to go to play in Latina, a city on the outskirts of Rome.
The fans have risen to the challenge and there were more than 39,400 spectators among the public, breaking the record for public attendance that has paid for a ticket in Italy for a women's football match. "It is a game that goes down in history," the club celebrated. It has helped that it was free for subscribers, but some 27,000 had paid between 5 and 15 euros to enter.
Among them, an emotional twelve-year-old Ginevra, who arrived at the stadium accompanied by her father: “For me it is very important that they play here. I've been playing since I was very young and I would really like to play a game here, if I arrive, of course”.
Women's football in Italy is still in the development phase. Until now, the strongest teams were Juventus and Fiorentina, the first women's team to be born as a division of the men's club. Both have won the last six women's Serie A championships, but now Alessandro Spugna's Roma, a young team created in 2018, is seriously competing for the scudetto and has reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League in the first year they dispute this championship. The club's commitment has helped a lot, also with transfers. One of the last, that of ex-Blaugrana Vicky Losada, incorporated into the winter market.
“We knew that this is not the game we were going to win, but we did have to play it. It is very important because this gives visibility to women's football, which is doing better every time”, commented the romanista Dario, who never misses a game at the Olímpico. For siblings Simone and Aurora, aged eleven and thirteen, it was also a special night. "We are very excited," they said. We come to the field a lot but it's the first time we've seen the girls, and I hope to see them more times”.
