Roma beat Atalanta 3-1 on Saturday night in a flurry of attacking fervor that has become common custom when watching the Giallorossi in 2013/14 season.
Gervinho tears past opponents with ease, Daniele De Rossi anchors a midfield that dominates possession and the juggernaut keeps going. Francesco Totti turns every weekend into 2001 with an array of flicks and tricks that makes you think taking a 37-year-old to the sweltering heat of the Brazilian World Cup in summer wouldn't be a bad idea and as usual, Rudi Garcia adds another win to an impressive debut season.
Roma have only lost twice all season, losses to Antonio Conte's soon-to-be historic Juventus side and Rafael Benitez's dangerous Napoli the only negatives to be found in a season that by and large, has brought almost unrelenting satisfaction to the usually weary followers of arguably Italy's most chaotic giants.
Yet, there will be a tinge of disappointment when the season ends and the inevitable Bianconeri festivities begin. Juventus's pending three-peat will be the first time the Turin side has won a trio of consecutive league titles since a quintet of Scudetti between 1931 and 1935, and will deny Roma the chance to celebrate a title that in previous years would've been almost guaranteed. To call Juventus's title a landmark achievement, especially in the context of today's hyper-competitive footballing sphere, is an understatement.
As a result, Juventus's five point stranglehold over the top of Serie A (and a game in hand to boot) has somewhat overshadowed Roma's own season, which has been notable in it's own right and in context - arguably more impressive.
Roma's achievements are plenty - their 79 points from 32 games is the most earned in that period by any Giallorossi side in Serie A history while the 19 clean sheets held by Garcia's side are more than Juventus had in the entirety of Juventus's 2012/13 title winning season.
Their goal differential (+49) is better than any in Serie A; two better than Juventus and a huge 21 goals better than next best Napoli. However, the lack of a Scudetto parade celebrating said achievement will unfortunately condemn this excellent Roma year as the unfortunate ugly sister alongside the dominating Juventus placed above them. Sadly, a casual fan would probably fail to recognize the success this season already has been for the 2nd placed side, and the point differential doesn't accurately depict the huge progression made by Roma under their coach.
Roma's season should be compared to the one had in 2012/13 to more accurately explain the quantum leap this team has made.
2012/13 was a season that began with huge optimism following the return of former coach Zdenek Zeman, who brought with him his expansive, daring, entertaining and ultimately suicidal tactics back to the Italian capital.
Nine losses in Zeman's first 23 matches in charge brought a abrupt ending to the veteran's second Roman tenure and caretaker coach Andrea Andreazzoli guided the capital club to 6th place, with the final match under his charge a disappointing Coppa Italia loss, which nearly drove Daniele De Rossi out of Italy.
Roma's final points total through 38 games in 2012/13: 62. Win/Draw/Loss record: 18/8/12. Goals For/Against: 59/45.
Now look at the same Roma statistics through 33 games, with 5 remaining to improve said record:
Points total: 79. Win/Draw/Loss Record: 24/7/2. Goals For/Against: 68/19.
Roma with five less games have 13 more points, six more wins, 10 fewer losses and despite having a distinct lack of Zeman's cigarette smoke on the Olimpico sideline - nine more goals. Somewhat unsurprisingly by the same regard, they've also conceded 26 less goals than their 2012/13 rivals.
Thanks to Walter Sabatini's terrific summer of work bringing in Kevin Strootman (contender for Serie A midfielder of the season before injury practically handed the award to Arturo Vidal), Mehdi Benatia (Serie A's best defender this season by a mile) and managing to replace 15 goal Erik Lamela with walking disappointment Gervinho and come out the winner of that transaction (with about €20m in change too), Roma are set up to contend for a few years yet.
Tying it all together has been Rudi Garcia, whose arrival from Lille was the best addition any Serie A side has made all season. Carlos Tevez will probably be Serie A's top scorer, but Garcia's work in transforming the chaotic, frustrating Roma side that has annually disappointed for over a decade into a title contending side is frankly astonishing.
The announcement of a new stadium that will be the club's home in 2016/17 - bringing in income that will allow Sabatini and Garcia to continue building a team capable of winning silverware all but confirms this as Roma's best season since Fabio Capello was parading a Serie A trophy atop a bus around the streets of the Italian capital in 2001.
Regardless of what Juventus have achieved, that should be remembered.
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