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Daniele De Rossi: Reformed Roman
His red card against the USA at the World Cup tainted his reputation. But, as Steve Wilson reports, Daniele De Rossi has left that aberration in his past and emerged as Roma and Italy’s midfield maestro
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It looked to be a terrible error that would forever blighted the name of one of Italy’s top young talents. There could be no justification for Daniele De Rossi’s elbowing of USA striker Brian McBride – it couldn’t even be brushed off as accidental – and the four-match ban threatened the Azzurri’s chances of progressing in the World Cup. At the time, newspaper headlines and message boards foamed with angry diatribes against the Roma midfielder, as he was blamed for the game ending in a draw and lambasted for letting his country down. It would have been easy for him to think he had done permanent damage to his career.
But less than 18 months on from that moment of madness, De Rossi has played in every one of Italy’s Euro 2008 qualifiers and was the Giallorossi’s most used player in Serie A last term. He even managed to come away from the 7-1 mauling at Manchester United with the best goal of the night. When looking back on that shameful night in Kaiserslautern last June, it is often forgotten the post-match attitude of the Rome-native, who sent a letter of apology to FIFA and immediately reconciled with his victim. “He was classy and apologised right after the game,” McBride revealed. Hardly the thug he was portrayed as, and don’t forget his earlier honesty in a Serie A match against Messina when he informed the referee he had handled the ball into the net despite a goal initially being awarded.
Perhaps it was just the military-style crew cut sported by DDR that night which saw him act like an over-pumped marine. Whatever the reason, as soon as his ban was served Marcello Lippi was ready to field him, bringing him on an hour into the World Cup Final against France – and, with almost an air of inevitability, the returning outcast played his role as he netted in the shoot-out. “It was always my decision to take one of the penalties that won us the World Cup. I was brandished a black sheep after my sending off so it was a great satisfaction to score,” he explained.
That blot on his copybook firmly in the past, the 24-year-old has matured into a key man for both club and country. This season he has one clear aim – to take Roma to the top of Europe’s tree. “I have always dreamt of winning the European Cup. I was only six-months-old when Roma played in that cursed Final with Liverpool,” he recalled. “I would swap winning the World Cup for winning the Champions League, but it would have to be in a Roma shirt. Despite the victory in Germany being something I’m truly proud of, and being a joyous occasion for millions of Italians, the World Cup has no significance in Rome. To fully understand the passion Romans have for their club, you need to live here.”
It may come as a shock to hear those words, but to the denizens of a city where you are Roman first and Italian second it will be perfectly understandable. The son of former Roma player Alberto De Rossi, he naturally has had a long affinity with the Stadio Olimpico. “From an early age I would go to the stadium with my father,” reminisced the 2006 Serie A Young Player of the Year. “The first time that I really experienced the unique atmosphere there was when I was 10. I was made a ball boy and it was an amazing experience, it was like I was a young actor on a Hollywood set. I was around 13-years-old when I made my debut with the youth squad, and that too was an incredible experience.”
He has come a long way from those days in the juniors. Making his introduction to the first team in 2003, by the start of 2004-05 he was considered good enough to be given a regular starting shirt. His Azzurri bow came early in that campaign against Norway – just over a year and a half after his first Serie A appearance – and he capped it with a goal. Thus far silverware has been in short supply. But he has slowly started to accumulate, with the Coppa Italia and Italian Super Cup won earlier this year added to a World Cup winners’ medal, 2004 European Under-21 championship gong and bronze at the 2004 Olympics.
The Scudetto and the Champions League are the next two targets for this ambitious battler but, like Giuseppe Giannini and Francesco Totti before him, you sense that he would rather win them with his hometown club or not at all. “In my position my favourite player would be Steven Gerrard,” he reveals. “I enjoy the way he plays and the way he rallies the team. He is an emblem of not only the club, but also of the city of Liverpool. I would love to emulate him in that sense and be a standard bearer for Rome.”
It is just the Roman mentality. The same passion for I Lupi is displayed by teammate Alberto Aquilani and the two look set to be the future of Roma and Italy’s midfield. With players like Totti around them domestically and Gennaro Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo in the Azzurri, it is appears to be a perfect education. “In my career I have had the possibility to play alongside many great champions,” he acknowledged. “It is of particular importance that a midfielder has a good relationship with his fellow players due to the proximity of the play so it is vital to have a good bond with fellow teammates.”
If you cast your mind back to 1994 you might remember another midfielder elbowing an American at the World Cup, receiving a four-match ban and still leaving with a winners medal. That too turned out to be a completely out of character incident. The man in question was future Milan playmaker Leonardo, and the Brazilian went on to collect the Scudetto in 1999. If history repeats itself, and with Luciano Spalletti’s side progressing with each season, then De Rossi might well find himself playing a role in delivering the fourth national crown to the adoring Roman masses. For him it would be a dream come true.
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| Words: Steve Wilson – November 2007 |
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