Roma’s plans for a new stadium have been met with universal approval by club legends Francesco Totti, Daniele De Rossi and manager Rudi Garcia.
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A scale model of an arena designed by architect Dan Meis and reminiscent of the Colosseum was unveiled on Wednesday.
And Totti believes the ambitious project, which will see a 60,000-capacity stadium built over the next two years, can match the club’s high expectations on the pitch.
"Roma fans deserve their own stadium -- a unique stadium, a stadium which is really able to give them goosebumps,” is Totti’s introduction of the project in a video on the stadium’s official webpage.
At the unveiling, the captain told reporters: “It’s a wonderful project; this will be the home of all Roma fans. We hope to win so much here, and really raise the Roma flag high.”
The 37-year-old also talked up Roma president James Pallotta’s confession that he “would love for Totti to be the first player to run on this pitch,” saying: “Me captain in the new stadium? It could be. We’ll need to see how we all are, but for sure having a project like this is something that involves us all.”
De Rossi echoed Totti’s words, saying “We really are projected towards the future. We can’t wait to play in this stadium -- of course we’ll keep winning in the current one too, but the new one is making our mouth water.
“The support will be more influential than anywhere else; it will be an extra gear and an extra source of pride, it will beat all others in terms of beauty, passion, heat -- it will be just wonderful.”
Garcia added: “We will write the history of Roma on this pitch. It’s such a great club but it will be easier to win trophies in the new stadium. The fans can be so influential on the result of a match -- we see it all the time, in Munich or in Dortmund.
“It was a great idea to refer to the Colosseum and render the Curva Sud so unique. The Americans really have got it -- in order to win you need to have fabulous facilities, and we’ll finally have them with this new stadium.”