El Shaarawy eager for Roma to prove they can fight it out at the top

The Giallorossi head to Lombardy looking to extend a run of four wins in a row, as they look to move themselves towards the top of the early Serie A standings.

Milan have similar aspirations of their own, despite suffering successive defeats against Lazio and Sampdoria, and El Shaarawy believes Roma must prove their quality at San Siro.

"It’s a vital match because we need to send out a message to the rest of the league and to ourselves,” El Shaarawy said. “We want to show everyone what we’re growing as a team and make sure the teams above us know that we’re going to be fighting at the top of the table too. We want to prove that we’re ready to compete at the top.

“The club made its decisions and opted to revolutionise the squad. I think they’ve brought in some top-quality players. We will come up against a very tough side that’ll be wanting to bounce back. We’ll need to be at our best to beat them."

The Italy international is enjoying a rich vein of form, scoring twice in the club’s last league encounter against Udinese.

Since moving to the Stadio Olimpico El Shaarawy has seemingly rediscovered the form that made him such a hot prospect when a teenager with Milan, although he doesn’t feel he has reached his potential just yet.

"I wouldn’t call it a renaissance. I came here to try and play well and I think I’ve managed that,” he added. “I think I’m improving. I want to keep getting better and establish myself even more both in Italy and internationally. I’m having a good spell and want to keep it up.

"I’m really happy to hear [the coach’s praise]. It’s a good system for me in terms of ghosting into the box and the way he asks the wingers to cut in from the left and right.

“I’m happy and we just need to keep learning from him – he’s a very capable, charismatic coach and he knows what he wants. We’re really improving tactically too and that’s something he focuses on a lot."