Daniele De Rossi discussed his friendship with Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi whom he will face in the Europa League Round of 16 in March.
During today’s pre-match presser on the eve of Roma’s clash with Torino, De Rossi spoke highly of De Zerbi.
“I didn’t want for us to draw Brighton, it’s a difficult match to prepare for, and they hurt a lot of the big teams in England this season,” said De Rossi.
“I respect De Zerbi. He was particularly kind to me over the years; he made books and data available to me, he gave me words of comfort, especially after I was sacked by SPAL, then our daughters are friends, they meet at the Roma Club in London to watch Roma play as they’re both avid supporters.”
“This thing of our daughters has united us much more. As a manager I think he is a genius, you can like him or not but he has brought something new and whoever does that is a brilliant coach. You can’t imitate someone who is brilliant from that point of view, but I think he’s someone who has changed something and who everyone wants to imitate nowadays.”
