Roma hope for more peaceful times on and off the pitch in the closing stages of the Italian Serie A football season.A 1-0 home win over Chievo on Saturday kept the team from the capital in the race for the last of four Champions League berths, although they will have to make up four points in as many games left.
"I believe in it," coach Vincenzo Montella said about his men's ability to secure fourth place and a qualifying berth for the elite event.
The currently sixth-placed Giallorossi, however, may have to settle for the Europa League - a second-rate goal - in a season marked in its final part by a long-awaited change of ownership.
United States entrepreneur Thomas DiBenedetto on April 15 announced the takeover of the club in a partnership with an Italian bank, signing a preliminary deal worth 70 million euros (101 million dollars) and promising to make the club a big gun on the continent.
The team's response was not satisfactory, as Palermo beat them 3-2 in Rome the following day, but further disconcerting news surfaced last week in a report by daily La Repubblica titled "Welcome Americans - now pay the debts."
The Rome newspaper reported that, although they were most likely aware of it, DiBenedetto and his US associates owe about 55 million euros to former players and collaborators of the club.
Retired Argentine striker Gabriel Batistuta, at Roma 2000-2003, is said to await outstanding payments of 9 million euros.
It appears that the Sensis, a family of financially struggling oil entrepreneurs who owned the club since 1993, ran their football business in a rather liberal way.
Seven cars reserved for club managers, hundreds of terminable contracts to various consultants, or gardeners at the training centre in Trigoria earning 10 times a teacher's pay were among the examples given by la Repubblica.
Although the club named the article "misleading," it raised the interest of a commission overseeing the Italian stock exchange, where Roma are quoted since 2000.
As the commission's investigations seem to worry former owners and shareholders, the team feels surrounded by unsteadiness as the season enters the home stretch.
The Giallorossi are also vying for the Italian Cup, but next week have to reverse a 1-0 home defeat to Inter in the semi-final.
Coach Montella, a former striker who in February took over from Claudio Ranieri, is uncertain about his future as new managers are about to take over in Trigoria.
Top players like Montenegro striker Mirko Vucinic and French midfielder Jeremy Menez appear set to leave, as generous offers from abroad add to a bad relationship with the fans.
Stones were hurled last week at Menez's car, while Vucinic has been jeered over some recent blunders.
It was nothing new for Roma, who in the past had games suspended and were handed massive fines - it is believed that DiBenedetto has already been warned.
"I believe in it," coach Vincenzo Montella said about his men's ability to secure fourth place and a qualifying berth for the elite event.
The currently sixth-placed Giallorossi, however, may have to settle for the Europa League - a second-rate goal - in a season marked in its final part by a long-awaited change of ownership.
United States entrepreneur Thomas DiBenedetto on April 15 announced the takeover of the club in a partnership with an Italian bank, signing a preliminary deal worth 70 million euros (101 million dollars) and promising to make the club a big gun on the continent.
The team's response was not satisfactory, as Palermo beat them 3-2 in Rome the following day, but further disconcerting news surfaced last week in a report by daily La Repubblica titled "Welcome Americans - now pay the debts."
The Rome newspaper reported that, although they were most likely aware of it, DiBenedetto and his US associates owe about 55 million euros to former players and collaborators of the club.
Retired Argentine striker Gabriel Batistuta, at Roma 2000-2003, is said to await outstanding payments of 9 million euros.
It appears that the Sensis, a family of financially struggling oil entrepreneurs who owned the club since 1993, ran their football business in a rather liberal way.
Seven cars reserved for club managers, hundreds of terminable contracts to various consultants, or gardeners at the training centre in Trigoria earning 10 times a teacher's pay were among the examples given by la Repubblica.
Although the club named the article "misleading," it raised the interest of a commission overseeing the Italian stock exchange, where Roma are quoted since 2000.
As the commission's investigations seem to worry former owners and shareholders, the team feels surrounded by unsteadiness as the season enters the home stretch.
The Giallorossi are also vying for the Italian Cup, but next week have to reverse a 1-0 home defeat to Inter in the semi-final.
Coach Montella, a former striker who in February took over from Claudio Ranieri, is uncertain about his future as new managers are about to take over in Trigoria.
Top players like Montenegro striker Mirko Vucinic and French midfielder Jeremy Menez appear set to leave, as generous offers from abroad add to a bad relationship with the fans.
Stones were hurled last week at Menez's car, while Vucinic has been jeered over some recent blunders.
It was nothing new for Roma, who in the past had games suspended and were handed massive fines - it is believed that DiBenedetto has already been warned.
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