Legendary striker Cristiano Ronaldo retired in style in the summer of 2025 but didn't leave the club, staying on as under 20s assistant manager. His retirement left AS Roma with an exciting, youthful squad as they looked to defend the Serie A title for the second time.
At the ripe old age of 39, Cristiano Ronaldo was still terrorising Serie A defences, including a clinical hat-trick against his former club Juventus. But as 2024 was drawing to a close, the striker announced his intention to retire from playing football at the end of the season.
AS Roma came into 2024 sitting pretty at the top of Serie A but with lots of games remaining due to a strangely lop-sided season in Italy. And, despite dropping points in three games, they only had a narrow lead at the top.
AS Roma secured Champions League football on the final day of the 2022/23 campaign, but had plenty of work to do in the summer if their threadbare squad was to close the gap on runaway leaders AC Milan.
A couple of months off thanks to the Winter World Cup saw AS Roma's players return looking to consolidate their place in the Champions League qualification places.
We're headed to the Italian capital to take on one of the city's big two. And the Special One, José Mourinho, finds himself The Unemployed One as we take his position at AS Roma.
Football Manager Addict 