Defrel: Nice gesture from teammates to give me penalty responsibility

The Frenchman, a summer signing from Sassuolo, was given the opportunity to convert from 12-yards in injury time at the Stadio Olimpico, as Edin Dzeko seemed to cede responsibility in order for the forward to try and get off the mark for the Giallorossi.

And Defrel did so, with a calm finish, to add another positive to an important win for the club.

“I asked after [the penalty] a bit and the guys gave me the ball without any debate,” Defrel said.

“It was a really nice gesture from them all. I’m happy: even if it was our fifth goal and it came from the penalty spot, for the confidence and everything else it was important to score.”

He added: “We are pleased with three points and the number of goals we have scored, something we hadn’t done for a few weeks.

“We are pleased even though in the first half it took us a while to get back in the game. But the important thing is we came out in the second half and won the game, which was not straightforward.”

While the striker’s workrate has not dropped in recent weeks, he acknowledged that a goal will only help him as he looks to get back to his best form after a difficult spell with injuries.

“I have always done this, I like to run a lot and help out the team as much as possible,” he noted. “I’m working hard to rediscover my top form and be more dangerous around the goal. That only comes with hard work and I think that in time it will come.”

The forward also had words of praise for Cengiz Under, who scored two goals on the night to help secure the three points.

“He’s starting to speak [Italian] better,” Defrel said. “He’s a great player, he needed a bit of time to adapt and now you can see he has improved a lot. I hope he scores a lot more goals for us.”