Saturday night at the Stadio Olimpico brings us one of Serie A’s true classics — the league’s best attack against its best defense. A rivalry born in the post-Calciopoli years, and one that reached its absolute peak back in 2010.
After the international break, Serie A returns with fireworks: Roma vs Inter, Gasperini vs Chivu, under the lights of the Olimpico — 70,000 fans in the stands and millions more watching from home.
The rivalry between these two clubs really caught fire in the mid-2000s. In the wake of Calciopoli, Roma and Inter became the two powerhouses of Italian football, battling for league titles and Coppa Italia trophies in some of the most dramatic seasons of that era.
Inter usually had the upper hand — especially in 2010, when Mourinho’s side broke Roma’s heart twice in a matter of weeks. Two of the three trophies from Inter’s historic Treble that year came at Roma’s expense. The Scudetto was decided on the final matchday: Roma had overtaken Inter late in the season but then collapsed at home against Sampdoria. A few weeks later, in the Coppa Italia Final at the Olimpico, Inter won 1–0 in a match remembered for Totti’s infamous kick on Balotelli.
The 2009–10 season was the peak of that rivalry. Then came a long decline for both clubs — ownership changes, financial struggles, and the loss of the identities once shaped by the Sensi family in Rome and the Moratti family in Milan.
Inter’s rise back to the top came later, after Roma’s brief resurgence under American owner James Pallotta. With Rudi Garcia first and then Luciano Spalletti, Roma played some beautiful football and pushed Juventus for the title — but never quite made it. While Roma were flying high, Inter — under Indonesian businessman Erick Thohir — were in crisis and miles away from contention.
That fire between the two clubs faded. The 3–0 win for Roma at San Siro in 2013–14 felt like a changing of the guard: Totti scored twice, Florenzi added another, and Inter were humbled at home.
That sense of Roma superiority came back three years later, again at San Siro, when Nainggolan bagged a brace in another dominant 3–1 win.
Then the balance shifted again. The end of the Pallotta era in Rome and the beginning of the Zhang era in Milan marked a turning point. As Roma struggled for direction, Inter began rebuilding — piece by piece — until they were ready to compete again at the highest level.
The real turning point came in the 2019–20 season, ten years after the Treble. That summer, Roma sporting director Gianluca Petrachi tried to bring Antonio Conte to the Giallorossi bench. Conte said no — and joined Inter instead. A year later, he led them to the Scudetto.
Once again, Inter came out on top. That decision set the foundation for the club’s technical and organizational rebuild, while Roma drifted through seasons of inconsistency.
Under the Friedkin family, Roma have shown ambition — sometimes with good ideas, often with too much confusion. The team hasn’t finished higher than fifth, while Inter have stayed in the title race year after year, winning another Scudetto with Simone Inzaghi and reaching two Champions League finals (both lost).
Roma’s bright moments have come in Europe: winning the Conference League and reaching the Europa League final under none other than José Mourinho — the same man who, in 2010, had denied Roma two dreams (and two “tituli,” as he famously said) in a single month.
José takes away, José gives. The “Vate of Setúbal” is nothing if not poetic.
Now, back to the present: tomorrow night at the Olimpico, for the first time in years, Roma and Inter meet in a genuine top-of-the-table clash. And for the first time in a long while, Roma will host Inter from the top — tied with Napoli for first place before the break.
On SMIT, you can find a full tactical breakdown of the matchup by our Match Analyst, Pietro Dell’Anna, who “played it ahead of time,” analyzing — numbers in hand — both teams’ strengths and weaknesses.
It’s going to be a classic best defense vs best attack showdown in Serie A.
For the rest, head over to Pietro’s piece — available in English (like all SMIT content), and easily translatable into Italian right from your browser.
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L’articolo Serie A: Roma vs Inter headlines Matchday 7 proviene da Soccer Made In Italy.
