Roma manager Daniele De Rossi attended the pre-match press conference on the eve of Saturday night’s showdown with Inter Milan.
While talking to the media, De Rossi said, “Tomorrow we must have the courage that is characteristic of strong players and we have many of them. Every team is beatable, even Inter who are the strongest side in Serie A.”
“We must understand how to hurt them and make them suffer, exploiting their weaknesses. We’re well aware that we are capable of playing a great match,” he added.
“Lukaku? I loved Lukaku’s performance against Cagliari and I want to see more of that from him. If he manages to get 5-6 shots on goal per game he’s bound to score plenty of goals for us. I am confident that he will be able to manage his emotions tomorrow and help us get a result.”
“Obviously, when you face an opponent like Inter the bar is automatically raised and you must prepare the match differently. When you play against strong teams you are bound to lose. But we are also strong and let’s see if we can reverse the statistics in direct clashes tomorrow. We must return to being the Roma that has already beaten Inter, Milan, Juve and Napoli in the past.”
“At the end of the day we are Roma, we play in front of our fans, in front of 65,000 people, and we must play without fear, with strategic intelligence. We may suffer a little but we must not give ourselves over to them. We know we can win.”
“Sanches and Smalling? Sanches is a fundamental element like many others on the team that are not necessarily part of the starting line-up. Everyone will be useful, him and Smalling are approaching optimal condition. I am convinced that they will be very important for us as the season progresses.”
“Our wingers? El Shaarawy is experiencing significant mental growth. I’ve known him for a long time and today he is a real player, someone who can change the game. In the past he was a bit too light and I would get pissed off at him. I also really like Zalewski who I care a lot about. I’m happy with these options.”
