Roma Grew After Capello Departure - Bronzetti Ernesto Bronzetti discusses the relationship between Roma and Real Madrid and describes the way the Roman club have matured in their club philosophy following coach Fabio Capello's departure. "When Capello left, Roma needed to renew certain aspects of the club policies. I was working with Real Madrid and Florentino Perez told me: 'buy me a strong defender', and I immediately answered '[Walter] Samuel'. That brought the first 25 million euros to Roma's registers. That operation increased the good feeling between Florentino and the whole Sensi family (Franco Sensi is the club's owner). Everytime Roma were mentioned, Perez would get excited, that's why he also bought Antonio Cassano."
Was it Bronzetti who advised Real's president on Cassano? "No, it was Capello who told him to buy Cassano. I supervised the negotiations and I was ready to bet Antonio would do well, but that didn't turn out to be the case...
"Roma started growing as a club after Capello left. They started thinking more as a group, starting from Rosella [Sensi], then also with [Daniele] Pradé who came on later, and of course Bruno Conti, a symbol of Roma. It was they who chose [coach Luciano] Spalletti and the group philosophy.
This Roma team reminds me of Milan, who always choose former Rossoneri players for their management. Pradé is a hardcore Romanista, and I think he's even better than [Milan's Ariedo] Braida." 
Regarding the Cicinho affair, he revealed: "Real started putting pressure to sell the player to Liverpool, but Pradé would have nothing of it and started yelling, saying 'I'm either going back to Rome with the player or I'm not leaving'. Then I called Rosella, she was angry too, but then Cicinho arrived, I gave him the phone and he told her: 'Don't worry, I gave my work to Ernesto and [Roma goalkeeper] Doni, I'm going to Roma and no other team."
Asked whether Roma as a club are at the level of giants like Barcelona, Milan and Real, he said: "This club has the right men at the right place. However, there are differences.
I believe that from an organisational point of view Milan are the number one club in the world, but Roma are going in the right direction."