Walking star.

It's still too early to speculate on the upcoming season: 2026/27. The centenary year. Now is the time for hopes and dreams. And for this season, I want to ask the Roma star in the sky to make it a positive year. Our year.

After finishing third last year, we must aim for a better position in the standings, and that could mean the Scudetto. Then I also want to achieve success in Europe. I realize that there are teams in the Champions League that are much better equipped than ours, but our hope is a 2-1 Roma-Cologne victory with a last-gasp goal from Falcao, like in 1983.

I'll try to lend a hand as I always have. I want to guarantee my part, as Ligabue sang. We'll have to start with a well-executed transfer market. We're missing a left winger and, if we sell Soulé, a right winger, but the foundation is good. We can get a lot of satisfaction.

As usual, in this space for my free thoughts, I also want to talk about politics. On behalf of Italy, whichever political party governs, and of Europe.

Meanwhile, we need rationality. Data are data. Spain has grown enormously in this period because it has drawn strength from immigration. Forcing racism and xenophobia, as right-wing newspapers and politicians do, is masochism, as well as ethically wrong, as our good Pope Leo XIV says.

There are many charlatans on the far right who exploit racism, xenophobia, and homophobia to enrich themselves and/or seize power. There are examples like Farage and Adinolfi, but the majority are like this.

Then there's a new trend among Afro-Europeans who feel somehow represented by the far right. A fascist black man seems illogical and stupid. But it's the reality. Many Afro-Europeans have often grown up in very religious and conservative cultures. Consider, for example, Africans' rejection of homosexuals. A peculiar tendency, this too is masochism, but real and tangible.

Afro-Italians, like many Italians, have great respect for Berlusconi. For twenty years, Berlusconi shaped Italian politics and culture. He instilled in Italians a harmful way of life: screwing over others and the state, which is the guiding principle of many on the far right. Defeating and subjugating everyone else, perhaps with an evening entertained by a few prostitutes, some of whom are now members of parliament, in a complete lack of morality. This is another reason why Italy isn't growing: reforms aren't being implemented, opposed by power lobbies and elites, and wages haven't risen. Berlusconism in general is the cause of many of Italy's critical issues.

We must get used to thinking not as Italy but as Europe if we truly want to be autonomous, independent, and powerful in the world. If we truly want to engage as equals with the US and China.

I want to ask our star to grow ethically and culturally as Italians and Europeans. May the star guide us to reject the xenophobia, racism, religious hatred, and homophobia often perpetrated by charlatans and chicken-stealers.

Roma also has a strong case this year, even for the title of Italian Champion, but we'll have to seize this rare opportunity. Roma hasn't finished this high in the standings in ten years. Now the goal is to surpass us, and that could mean the Scudetto.

Daje Roma!

Giordano Sepi