On August 20, 1995, Roma welcomed Sevilla to the Stadio Olimpico for their annual curtain-raiser friendly in front of the Giallorossi faithful, with Francesco Totti scoring to give the home side a 1-0 win. Twenty years later and history is set to repeat itself: Sevilla are again the opponents for AS Roma Opening Day, and few would bet against the legendary Capitano ensuring his name is on the scoresheet once more (don’t forget, you can watch the match live right here: http://eversport.tv/football/italian/2015/8/15/roma-vs-sevilla).
The year after Sevilla’s first visit saw fellow Spaniards Real Zaragoza make the trip to Rome. The Giallorossi slipped to a home defeat that year, with Marco Delvecchio’s strike not enough to avoid a 1-2 loss courtesy of goals from Garitano and Higuera.
In 1997, the opponents were the Inter side of Luigi Simoni and Ronaldo. There were to be no fireworks from O Fenômeno, however, as goals from Gautieri and Totti gave Roma a 2-1 win. Brazil’s Santos – the club where the great Pele made his name – crossed the Atlantic to visit the Stadio Olimpico in 1998, winning 2-3 despite a double from new Roma signing Gustavo Bartelt.
Olympiakos were the visitors on August 22, 1999 as Fabio Capello’s Giallorossi side made their debut with Vincenzo Montella in the No. 9 role. The result was a resounding 6-1 win in favour of Roma, with Delvecchio, Montella, Totti, Choutos, Di Francesco and Cafu all scoring.
Capello’s Scudetto year began with a 0-0 draw against AEK Athens, memorable nonetheless for the welcome afforded to new signing Gabriel Batistuta and tributes to the injured Emerson who, high in the Olimpico stands, was unable to contain his tears.
Next season, as title holders, the Giallorossi welcomed Carlos Bianchi’s Boca Juniors side to Rome, running out 3-1 winners thanks to a Guigou double and Batistuta strike. 2002 saw the visit of a special guest in Toninho Cerezo, coach of Japanese outfit Kashima Antlers. The former midfielder enjoyed a lap on honor before the match, which finished up 6-0 to Capello’s men thanks to Candela, Montella (2), Cassano, Zebina and Bombardini.
Sevilla’s cross-town rivals Real Betis were the visitors in 2003. The match finished 2-2, with Emerson and Antonio Cassano scoring for the Giallorossi. It was a particularly bittersweet occasion on August 29, 2004, however, with coach Cesare Prandelli having been forced to resign a few days beforehand due to tragic personal reasons. Gabriele Pin took charge of the first team, with Rudi Voeller returning to the capital to coach the side soon after. The Curva Sud had a touching message for Prandelli: “You’ve shown the world of football what a real man is. Hail Cesare”. The match itself, a 5-3 win over an Iran XI, was almost immaterial.
Roma kicked things off against Al Ain in 2005, with Luciano Spalletti’s men winning 2-0 thanks to goals from Montella and Rodrigo Taddei. The tradition of a summer friendly to herald the new season was then suspended between 2006 and 2011. In 2012, the Giallorossi began the season with the Open Day initiative – an open training session, but with no competitive match.
The tradition returned last season, however, with Fenerbahce visiting the Stadio Olimpico on August 19, 2014 and playing their part in an entertaining 3-3 draw.
This year, the task falls once again to Sevilla, just as it did 20 years ago.