Defenders
Jonathan Zebina
France’s Jonathan Zebina, who had begun his footballing career as a striker, had just joined Roma and the 22-year-old center-back played 22 matches throughout the season. Zebina’s stint with Roma prompted several big European clubs to make offers for him and he rejected moves to Liverpool, Chelsea, and AC Milan to join Juventus.
Zebina was a regular for Juventus till the 2007-08 season after which he received stiff competition from Czech defender Zdenek Grygera. He eventually left Juventus in 2010 and following this, had short stints at Brescia, Brest, Toulouse, and Arles-Avignon before retiring in 2014.
Zebina also played one match for the France national team against Sweden in 2005 when Les Bleus were coached by Jacques Santini. However, after Santini’s departure, Zebina fell out with new coach Raymond Domenech and was never called up to the national team again.
Walter Samuel
Considered to be one of the finest centre-backs of his time, Walter Samuel joined Roma during the 2000-01 season and played a crucial role in their league triumph, featuring in 31 matches. Samuel was a regular at Roma until his departure to Real Madrid in 2004 for a fee of €25 million. He played for one season at Real Madrid before being transferred to Internazionale for a fee of €16 million.
Samuel had a brilliant stint at Inter and was a crucial fixture in the side’s run to the Champions League title in 2010. Aside from the Champions League, Samuel won five Serie A titles, 3 Coppa Italia titles, 4 Super Coppa Italia titles, and the 2010 FIFA Club World Cup. He was also named the Serie A Defender of the Year in 2010 alongside Giorgio Chiellini. The Argentine left the club in 2014 and went to Switzerland where he played for FC Basel for two years before retiring from football in 2016.
Following his retirement from football, he rejoined Inter Milan as a part of their backroom staff under then newly-appointed coach Stefano Pioli.
Antonio Zago
Zago was another crucial member of the Roma defence and played 28 matches throughout the season. He stayed at Roma till 2002 and then played two seasons in Turkey at Besiktas before moving to his homeland Brazil where he played for Santos and Juventude before retiring from the game in 2007, aged 38.
Zago also played for the Brazilian national team from 1991-2001 and was a part of two Copa America squads in 1993 and 1999, winning the latter tournament.
Following his retirement from football, Zago managed eight clubs and was the assistant coach for Roma in 2013. Most recently, he was the manager of Brazilian club Internacional before getting the sack a few days ago.
Cafu
One of the greatest defenders of all-time, Cafu spent six years in Rome and was one of the best players in the 2000-01 Serie A season. Cafu left Roma in 2003 after making 163 league appearances and went to AC Milan where he helped the club win the Scudetto in his very first season. He later helped the club win the Champions League in 2007 before retiring from football a year later in 2008.
Cafu played for Brazil from 1990-2006 and is the country’s most capped player with 142 appearances, and five goals. He was a part of two FIFA World Cup-winning squads – in 1994 and 2002. He retired from international football following the 2006 World Cup.
Cafu was inducted into the AS Roma Hall of Fame in 2012 and will feature in the Ultimate Champions Match at Cardiff as a part of Emilio Butragueno’s All Stars alongside the likes of Robert Pires, David Trezeguet, Gianluca Zambrotta, and Dejan Stankovic.
Vincent Candela
France left-back Vincent Candela’s best phase of his career was during his eight-year stay at Roma. He was instrumental in Roma winning the 2000-01 Serie A, scoring three goals and keeping numerous clean sheets. He left Roma in 2005 and had short spells at Bolton Wanderers, Udinese, and Siena before retiring at Messina in 2007 while on loan from Siena. Candela was inducted into the AS Roma Hall of Fame in 2014.
He also played for France and was a part of the team that won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000, playing three games in both tournaments combined. Following his retirement, Candela featured as a dubbing actor in the Italian version of Shaolin Soccer and also took part in the Italian version of Dancing With The Stars.
