09/22/2002. AS Roma's miserable start to the 2002/03 campaign continued as they were beaten 2-1 at home by freshly-promoted Modena in a turbulent match which was rife with controversy.
It looked set to be a confidence-inflating evening for the capital club – who were coming of back-to-back defeats from both the Serie A and the Champions League – when their golden boy Francesco Totti converted a fifth minute penalty after he himself was brought down.
The rest of the match did not go according to script, however, as referee Farina – who had made several questionable decisions against the hosts even before that point – adjudged that Emerson had shoved Giuseppe Sculli in the back in the box and pointed to the spot, much to the horror of the Romanisti. To add further insult to injury, he sent off Christian Panucci for dissent after which Omar Milanetto kept his cool to fire home a timely equalizer just a minute before the break.
Forced into a half-time reshuffle, Fabio Capello elected to sacrifice Batistuta in favour of defensive cover in the form of Luigi Sartor, which meant that tiny Montella was left playing as the lone striker with the smallish Totti playing just behind him.
The great majority of the Stadio Olimpico was left scathing at the ref again early into the second-half when he waved off their vociferous penalty appeals for an apparent tug of the shirt of their captain.
On 58 minutes, Montella brought a good save out of Ballotta with a scorching volley, which turned out to be the Italy striker's last contribution to the game as Capello blatantly decided to settle for the tie by taking him off and leaving Totti as the lone attacker.
Capello's cowardly tactics backfired, however, as the minnows from Modena took a shock lead with just over fifteen minutes of regulation time remaining. A lapse in Roma's defense presented a glorious opportunity for Sculli, who cooly sidefooted the ball over the onrushing Antonioli.
Antonio Cassano was introduced as an emergency addition to Roma's shot-shy offense and the 10-man hosts began to attack their opponent's goal with near reckless abandon.
Emerson and Totti had the best chances to spare their suffering side's blushes with a late equalizer, but their attempts were thwarted by the magnificent Ballotta, who ended up leading the celebrations of a famous victory for Modena.
Roma: Antonioli; Panucci, Samuel, Cufrè; Cafu (Cassano 80), Emerson, Lima, Candela; Totti; Batistuta (Sartor 46), Montella (Tommasi 59)
Modena: Ballotta; Mayer (Pasino 71), Cevoli, Pavan; Ponzo, Colucci (Albino 67), Milanetto, Mauri, Balestri; Fabbrini (Kamara 59), Sculli
Ref: Farina
Sent off: Panucci 44 (R)
o hell yeah Roma's doing worse than Lazio their 0/3 while Lazio's 2/3, I wouldn't be suprised if they have a season as bad as Lazio's was last season.