Di Francesco: The focus is fully on the league right now

Cengiz Under set the Giallorossi on their way to victory at the Stadio Olimpico - although it was ex-Roma defender Ervin Zukanovic's second half own goal that ultimately secured the three points for the hosts.

You got the three points but it was a struggle...

“I think we did very well in the first half – we had Genoa on the ropes with our good attacking play. However we weren’t clinical enough and didn’t make the most of our play. Genoa came out more in the second half, but we still had several chances to kill the game off. We lost the ball in midfield and ended up conceding, which opened up the game again – sometimes we do ourselves harm. We could have killed the game earlier and we showed a bit of naivety. This is an issue we’ve had for some time.”

Why didn’t you manage to secure the win earlier?

“The team did what I asked of them, fundamentally. Some fear crept in that we may not manage to win. I changed to a 3-4-3 and we had some more opportunities to score. It was that bit of naivety that stopped us from killing the game earlier.”

Maybe your focus has already switched to Liverpool?

“Our approach to the game was right: if you win 4-0, nobody says you were thinking about the Champions League, but people do if you win 2-1. We got the three points today and that was what we needed to do. Roma are not accustomed to reaching the Champions League semi-final, so it’s inevitable that you end up thinking about that game - however, that doesn't go for me and the players.

"If we are to have more games like this we need to pick up wins in the league, first and foremost, then we can think about doing something special against Liverpool.”

Is there a chance that the excitement and euphoria surrounding the Liverpool game ruins the focus around the squad?

“In life it’s better to have euphoria and excitement than depression. It’s up to us to prepare as well as possible for games like this. Today, for example, we set out with a desire to win the game. The errors we made today are ones we’ve seen before this phase of the Champions League. Tonight, we needed to get back to winning ways and that’s what we did, creating lots of dangerous openings. We didn’t secure the win early enough, but other than that I’m happy.”

You opted for a new midfield set-up today. Are you happy with your players’ performance?

“Yes, particularly for the first half-an-hour. Our play in both channels was very good, which put Genoa on the back foot. However we weren’t clinical enough with our final pass and in converting our chances. Maxime Gonalons, putting aside the ball that led to Genoa pulling a goal back, did a good job hassling the opposition and didn’t often give the ball away. We were lacking in other aspects up front.”

Will you rest a lot of players against SPAL?

“You always need balance, something will certainly be lacking because the players have had three matches in just six days – you can’t keep that up. We’ll do all we can to get three points and I don’t want to give Leonardo Semplici any advantage ahead of Saturday.”