Roma sporting director, Monchi spoke to El Desmarque Radio ahead of today’s Champions League match between Atletico and Roma. These are his words:
The Champions League?
I am looking forward for this match tonight getting started and seeing how Roma play against an important team, just like we did against Chelsea. Let’s see if the growing we’ve done will continue. We want to see if we are able to close the talks surrounding qualifying, it would be a joy and a confirmation of the project that we started in Rome. When we were in Montecarlo, we said publicly that we would have to fight. Then you see that we end up in a group with Chelsea and Atletico Madrid and the odds of qualifying diminish. Eventually, as the group progressed, we found ourselves in a favorable position. We would all sign up to be in the situation we are in now. I am very ambitious. Today we have to aspire to get first place in the group. Then, if we qualify, we will still be satisfied, but we can not give up on anything.
What about the league?
There is great balance between the 5 clubs at the top of the table, there is little point distance. The club with the most continuity is Napoli: they have been working on their project for 3 years, they deserve their position. We want to at least continue to stay in this fight for top places.
And Di Francesco?
The project is growing, though, we had to make some quick decisions after all the changes: the departure of the manager as well as some important players, including the retirement of Totti, plus the arrival of a new sporting director. At first, it was difficult, but we kept calm and our confidence in this project. The team is growing and we’re not at 100%, but we’re happy with what we are seeing. This group of footballers is convinced that what the Mister says is the best thing to do in order to get to a victory.