Roma-Inter: with the heart to cheer, with the mind to dream

Returning from the midweek round, Roma and Inter face off in one of the advances on Saturday. The Olimpico is once again sold out, with an excellent Nerazzurri presence in the away sector.

The beautiful sunny day means that a fair amount of fans swarm around the stadium from the early hours of the afternoon. Although things didn’t go well in the championship for a Roma that slipped to seventh place and seriously risk remaining out of the cups, the environment responds and is clearly eager to stay close to the yellow and red colors. A feeling that, although it has always characterized the Capitoline supporters, has seen a new spring in the last two years. And if it is true that numbers often do not coincide with quality, it is equally true that in a derelict Serie A, where in the last decade there has been a competition to get more and more people away from the bleachers, this is a more than encouraging sign . The popular expression of this sport remains (true popular football, because it embraces everyone), in the hope that in the near future we can increasingly discuss the price of tickets (even those for single matches), in order to establish a ceiling and make the stadium a place accessible to everyone, always and in any case.

As I already had the opportunity to say in the Empoli-Inter article, also on this occasion the Inter contingent is showing a good performance, as well as a visual aspect that is certainly superior to past years. Placed above the all-encompassing banner of the North Curve and “armed” with some biancocelesti banners to provoke the neighbors, the nerazzurri ultras manage to involve the sector on several occasions, also by relying on an intelligent use of the drum. The way in which guests have been arranged at the Olimpico for some years (a sort of vertical line attached to Monte Mario, rather than horizontal as logic would dictate) makes coordination of cheering more difficult. A way that is obviously the daughter of wanting to avoid launches and “exchanges” with the adjacent Romanist north.

On the Giallorossi front, after the now consolidated and compact scarf to the notes of the anthem, the South stages a good performance, with which it tries to shake up a team that seems to pay the price for the weekly commitments and in the end gives in 0-2 to Inzaghi’s men. The granite slaps, “restored” some time ago by the Giallorossi ultras, and the waving of the flags that stand out for long fringes of the match are always beautiful. A lot of movement also on the north wall on the guest side, which now acts as a real engine for the entire sector and is highlighted by the excellently made material on display. Without wanting to be too “obsessed” with style, I think we need a good compromise between being “decadent” and maintaining one’s own aesthetics. And on this Roma supporter has made enormous strides forward in the last decade, placing the emphasis on fundamental issues such as the standardization of colors (and therefore the prevailing use of ocher yellow and Pompeian red) and decency in the creation of banners, flags and patches. It’s also nice to see, for some time now, torches and smoke bombs here and there, from time to time. A demonstration of how their use is anything but dangerous.

The defeat remedied on the field does not weaken the environment, which after the triple whistle gathers around the team in view of the fundamental double challenge with Bayer Leverkusen. For the occasion, Mourinho calls all the players under the South, who by enclosing themselves in a sort of embrace seem to want to give themselves strength and gain strength from those fans who have never stopped supporting them.

Fibrillation also on the Nerazzura side. With a Champions League derby to be played and an Italian Cup final just around the corner, the Milanese rightly nurture their right to dream, loudly acclaiming their players. After the latest teasing between the two factions, the Olimpico begins to leave. An evening like this, with its mild and pleasant climate, also ignores negative sporting results and can only entice you to pour into the beautiful streets of the historic center, in its alleys and in its clubs that are already starting to be overrun by tourists . Despite its commercialization and, at times, its distortion, the capital is always a unique place to take even a simple walk.

Simone Meloni