Former Roma defender Philippe Mexes – one of the club’s most loyal servants with 270 appearances to his name between 2004 and 2011 – previewed the Derby della Capitale.
In an interview with Retesport, Mexes discussed a number of topics ahead of the highly anticipated derby.
“Aouar? He should have fewer defensive tasks, he must play with freedom, he is an attacking midfielder, but he struggles to mark all over the pitch, they are not used to playing like this in France. It is normal that he has to assimilate many concepts, perhaps play a little further behind the striker.”
“The derby? One thing was having Francesco, Daniele, Aquilani out there, men who were born in Rome, they felt it a lot, today there are many foreigners, at the time it was very exciting, because you breathed this atmosphere in the locker room. On Sunday it is fundamental for Roma to win and years ago we foreigners were inevitably permeated by this atmosphere too.”
“Regrets? I would have liked to win a Scudetto in Rome, I don’t care about anything else, I failed to win a title with Roma, we would have deserved it. I would like to replay that damned Roma-Sampdoria,” he added.
“Totti and Spalletti? I was very disappointed with how Francesco was treated by Roma, he is a great person, for me it was a strong disappointment, because he helped me a lot to settle in, he is an incredible icon, he is empathetic, he is human and he deserves everything. I’m pleased that he made peace with Spalletti, because they were the protagonists of that team for so many years. The coach gave me everything, it is thanks to him that I have had an important career.”
