Roma vs Real Madrid on 14 October already sold out

Roma lost 3–4 to Real Madrid in a Champions League fixture at the Olimpico, but the scoreline alone does not tell the story that divided the fanbase. The club led 3–1 with approximately eighty minutes played before the Spanish side mounted a late comeback to snatch victory. Among Roma's players and supporters, the overwhelming sentiment was pride rather than anger at the performance itself. Fans acknowledged that Roma had competed on level terms with one of Europe's strongest teams and had earned praise for their display. Bar-room and social media conversation centred on a sense of misfortune: many supporters felt that a collapse of this kind could only have befallen their club. The real flashpoint came with José Mourinho, Roma's former manager. He was warmly received before kickoff but his celebration of Rüdiger's decisive goal, combined with subsequent remarks, alienated a section of the support. Harsh comments circulated online, with one sentiment recurring: "Don't call him a Roma man, he is ungrateful." Yet those close to Mourinho note that he remained fundamentally true to his competitive nature throughout the evening. In fact, he held back from celebrating as extravagantly as he might have done in other circumstances—a gesture that underscored the emotional weight of his return to the Olimpico. The fixture crystallised an overriding message for the Roma faithful: Mourinho belongs to the past, while the club's future must be built with head coach Gian Piero Gasperini. Although the pain of the defeat was real and deep, the night reinforced the bond between the team and its supporters.

A reader named Michele from Oman has illustrated the Champions League match between Roma and Real Madrid through a satirical cartoon that plays on the team's visible fatigue in the closing stages. The drawing captures the squad's collapse after a strong performance, using wordplay and visual humour to reflect on the match. The cartoon's central joke reads: "In summary we dominated Real Madrid until the 83rd minute… and then we hit rock bottom." Michele's illustration plays on the double meaning of the Italian expression "arrivare all'osso" (reaching the bone), depicting a skeleton dressed as an ancient Roman alongside an energy gauge that bottoms out at the 83rd-minute mark. The work offers a wry commentary on the physical exhaustion accumulated by Roma across the match, pinpointing the moment when the team depleted its reserves.

Michele Criscitiello, director of Sportitalia, has criticised the ovation Roma supporters gave José Mourinho before the Roma–Real Madrid match, arguing it was disproportionate to his achievements at the club. Criscitiello said the reception was inappropriate given that Mourinho won only the UEFA Europa Conference League during his time in Rome, which he described dismissively. He stated: "Roma has won only a Conference which is a little cup. You have shown yourselves to be a small fanbase—an ovation like that I could have expected from Inter for the treble, but for a little cup like the Conference League they made Mourinho into a god descended to earth. It makes no sense. 'Eternal Rome', for what? For winning the Conference…" Criscitiello also criticised Mourinho's response to the applause, noting that the manager appeared indifferent at the end of the match after taking the three points to return to the Bernabéu. He argued that such displays lack respect for Gian Piero Gasperini, the current Roma coach, who he said is working hard for the squad. The journalist characterised modern footballers and managers as mercenaries and suggested Roma's fanbase and the city had shown themselves to be small even on the international stage through the excessive welcome. Criscitiello concluded by saying: "I remain stunned by such a reception. Mourinho didn't even care. Adding insult to injury, he doesn't care at all—he takes the three points and returns to the Bernabéu. Players and managers are mercenaries. A simple round of applause would have sufficed. You have shown yourselves to be a small fanbase and a small city, even abroad."