Why AS Roma Need to Take the Europa League Seriously

After Roma's bright start at home to CSKA Moscow, the Champions League hasn't gone to plan for them this season—which isn't to say that their eventual failure to qualify for the next round should be all that unexpected. 

Pitted against the champions of Russia, England and Germany, they were never going to get out of the group easily. The Giallorossi are more than a match for the Russians, but at the Arena Khimki, they showed their naivety.

The Italians had more possession in that game but allowed their hosts more than twice as many shots—one of which, in the dying moments of the game, proved fatal. 

Vasili Berezutski's last-gasp equaliser for CSKA was a cruel lesson for Rudi Garcia's side but also a crucial one. The Olimpico outfit has been out of the continent's top competition for several seasons now, and it showed.

That guilelessness cost them dearly against Bayern, too, even if the enormity of the 1-7 battering they suffered at home is a little misleading.

Roma were poor and Munich excellent, and there's no doubting the fact that the 2013 European champions have the better squad, but the difference in quality between the two sides really isn't that big. It exists, certainly, but Die Roten aren't seven times the betters of the Giallorossi.

For Roma, it's less a gulf in quality than a chasm in character. Garcia has a young squad that can go on to do great things, but they'll need to be battle-hardened, and that kind of toughness is only forged in the fires of competition. 

Which is, or should be, the primary reason for the Giallorossi to go all guns blazing for the Europa League. Yes, it's not where they want to be long-term, and yes, it's far less glamorous than UEFA's principal trophy, but it's still a title.

On top of that, it could do wonders for the club's coefficient—and its profile globally. 

Roma have a large squad full of gifted but inexperienced players, and to keep them all happy and maximise their development, they need to be playing regular football against better opposition than the provincial sides of Serie A can offer.

Using it as a stepping stone to greater things certainly didn't do Atletico Madrid—twice winners in the last five years—any harm. 

It should be Diego Simeone's side, more than their noisier, richer neighbours in the Spanish capital, that Roma should want to emulate. It can be a hard pill for some fans to swallow, but all clubs are not equal. The Lupi can't go toe-to-toe with the the German champions, the elite of the Premier League or the clubs fuelled by petrodollars—at least not yet. 

To the doubters who think of the Europa League as an unwelcome distraction, here are a few points.

Firstly, Roma have six forwards who all want and deserve game time. Behind those forwards, they have five first-class midfielders. Even allowing for injury, there aren't enough minutes left in the league to keep everyone happy. 

Secondly, for a club with a huge stature and even greater potential, there's a paucity of silverware at Trigoria. They haven't even reached the final of an international competition since losing to Inter in the 1991 UEFA Cup final. And no, the 2013 MLS All-Star Game doesn't count. 

And finally, if the club's coefficient wasn't so terribly low, they would have avoided this season's "Group of Death" and found themselves in a far more favourable position. The only way to improve that is to play in Europe and play to win. 

The club's owners have been talking a lot about ambition, and the investments they've made in the squad—not to mention their plans for a new stadium—prove that they're putting their money where their mouths are. Now the manager and his players need to back up that desire on the pitch.

Roma isn't a provincial club with a small squad and no greater goal than simply making the Champions League cut and collecting the TV money. It's a huge team with enormous potential at home and abroad, and right now, Garcia has enough players at his disposal to make a go of the league and European football.

They were never going to win the Champions League. But they're more than capable of winning the Europa. And for a club with huge ambitions but a relatively sparse trophy cabinet, that would be no small thing. 

What do you think about Roma and the Europa League? Let me know on Twitter: @ColliOBrien.