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The Giallorossi head to Sardinia on Saturday to face Cagliari, as Eusebio Di Francesco’s side look to push up the league table and put an end to a run of disappointing away performances in recent weeks.
And Cristante knows the game has to be the start of a run of greater consistency from the team.
“We have not done well against ‘smaller’ sides, we know we have to do a lot better,” Cristante told Sky Sport Italia.
“It’s never easy in Serie A but this is definitely one of the ways we have to improve and we are working on it. We are working hard out on the training pitch, we know we need to bring back the three points on Saturday to keep progressing.”
He added: “We’ll definitely finish in the top four. Our aim is to qualify for the Champions League and we have everything we need to achieve that.
"We have already shown that it is a competition that we can play well in. In the league we need to find the consistency that we have been lacking.”
Perhaps the bright spot for the Giallorossi in the campaign to date has been the performance of some of the younger players; with Nicolo Zaniolo, Justin Kluivert and Cengiz Under among those to have made an impression on big games this term.
“They are young but talented,” Cristante said. “We need to give them a bit of time but the future looks bright.
"The young players can also give us a bit of an extra spark. Nicolo [Zaniolo] has shown he has the potential to become a great player. He needs to keep going.”
With injuries restricting the coach’s options, Cristante and Steven Nzonzi are set for a run of games together in central midfielder.
“The coach works a lot on the movement of the team, and particularly the midfielders,” he said. “With Steven [Nzonzi] our understanding is always improving.
“Daniele [De Rossi] is someone I learn from every day. With his experience everything he does is for a reason, and so it’s important to watch him and steal as much from him as possible.”
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