Gian Piero Gasperini has allowed Roma’s early momentum to widen the horizon. With Sunday’s trip to Como approaching, the coach has spoken openly about a Scudetto project initially mapped out over three years, while insisting that the club must be ready for the uneven course of a long Italian season.
“We had planned to get there within three years,” Gasperini said. “If we can do it sooner, that would be welcome. But we know it is a long road. Football does not offer straight lines. There will be good moments and difficult ones, and it will depend on how we handle them.”
Roma’s strong opening has therefore not changed the manager’s sense of proportion, but it has clearly sharpened the club’s ambition. Asked whether the title could arrive inside that three-year window, Gasperini suggested it might even come earlier.
A coach’s football, from Bergamo to Rome
Gasperini discussed his football while supporting his son Davide’s work at Cascina Gilli, the family winery in Castelnuovo Don Bosco. Its new Freisa, named “343”, is a reference to the 3-4-3 shape that has long accompanied his coaching career.
He described the formation as his original point of reference, though one he has adjusted in different ways over the years. In his view, the system was brought from abroad, especially from Dutch football, and reached its fullest expression during his time at Atalanta.
Gasperini joked that the wine is not sparkling, otherwise he would use it in attack. Instead, he placed it in midfield, “setting the rhythm”. Yet he stressed that a set of numbers is never the central issue.
“That is how I see football, but the formation matters only up to a point,” he said. “The key is to play as a team: forwards must defend and defenders must attack. Nothing is invented, either in football or in wine. The difference comes from the group, through commitment and selflessness.”
Inter setback and the trust of Atalanta
The Roma coach also reflected on the low point of his career, his dismissal by Inter. He admitted that the experience, along with other difficult periods, had made him question his own ideas. But he said he was able to recover, and credited Atalanta for continuing to believe in him when results were not immediately arriving.
Bergamo remains an important part of Gasperini’s story. He pointed not only to the Europa League triumph, but also to the quality of the football and the regular Champions League finishes achieved across nine years.
For him, a coach’s work cannot be judged by one trophy alone. He called Bergamo the longest and most intense stop of a life spent moving through football, and said he still feels a deep attachment to a community in which he had fully settled.
Gasperini said he often returns to the city and misses all of it. A future return was not ruled out: he still has a home there.
Rome’s new chapter
He declined to discuss Juventus, having turned down the club a year ago, but was more relaxed when speaking about life in the capital. Rome is a very different environment from Bergamo, he said, though certainly not an unpleasant one.
The manager’s immediate concern, he joked, is resisting the city’s carbonara: “I have to be careful, I am putting on too much weight.”
Behind the humour, however, lies a clear message for Roma’s season. The early progress has created belief ahead of Como, but Gasperini’s focus remains on building a side capable of surviving the rises and falls that come with a championship campaign.
