Pellegrini: It was the perfect Saturday

Lorenzo Pellegrini said it was a dream come true as he made his first start for Roma in their 3-0 defeat of Hellas Verona on Saturday night.

"I was hoping for a good debut," he said, speaking to Roma Radio on Sunday morning. "When it’s your first match, you always want to do well. It was really important that we won and we did, so it was the kind of day I’d dreamt of. It was the perfect Saturday."

How big a boost did it give you to have Alessandro Florenzi back?

"I think Ale had a great return. Not everyone can show that level of composure, desire and strength after the two injuries he’s had. He ran more than anyone else – it was really impressive. He never stops impressing me."

How long will it take for the team to gel properly?

"It takes a bit of time, but I think we’re in good shape. We’re starting to see really positive stuff in training too. Obviously I know what I have to do on my side, but I think [Aleksandar] Kolarov, [Radja] Nainggolan and [Stephan] El Shaarawy had great games too. It’s also about how you link up with your team-mates – I think we played really well yesterday. We all tried to do what the boss asked of us."

As regards your position, does the coach allow you the freedom to express yourself or is your movement all carefully planned?

"The coach gives us a blueprint, in the sense that he tries to send us out onto the field knowing more or less what we need to do. There were a lot of times yesterday when [Daniele] De Rossi was picking Nainggolan and myself out because there was plenty of space in the middle and down the flanks. You do have some freedom to interpret your role – when I saw they were going quite narrow, I pushed wide to leave space for the full-back."

How important was it to see the hard work in training paying off?

"It was definitely really important. As I said yesterday, all of us wanted to get back to winning ways because we were playing at home. It was an important game because we’d not won in a while, with the postponed match and the draw in the Champions League, though I think that was a good result because we were up against a strong team. It was vital that we won today to put a positive spin on that one and we managed it. We could definitely have scored more – but that’s OK. The most important thing was the three points."

Do you have a good understanding with Cengiz Under on the pitch?

"Absolutely. He talks the language of football very well. Under is a very intelligent guy. When Florenzi and I realised he would be playing on that flank, we tried to give him some key words for him to communicate with, such as ‘free’, ‘right’ and ‘left’. He’s a clever lad so it’s easy to communicate with him. Football has a universal language and that helps us all."

Out of interest, when was your first time at the Olimpico as a fan?

"I don’t remember the first time, but I started going to see Roma very young. My father and cousins had season tickets in the Curva and he always used to take me from the age of four or five. I was really tiny and we were up high, so the stadium seemed huge and the pitch looked so far away. Now that I play there, it’s completely different."