De Rossi: This was the real Roma tonight - it's an honour to coach them

Goals from Edoardo Soleri and Riccardo Marchizza powered Roma's Primavera side to a 2-0 victory over Virtus Entella, and a 3-1 aggregate victory in the two-legged final.

For De Rossi it was the third trophy in 12 months, but the experienced coach gave all the credit to his players after another mature performance.

"It's fantastic to be able to coach a team like Roma," De Rossi said. "The club gives you great players to work with and it would be hard to win without them.

"We were up against very strong opposition today – Entella have lots of lads who have already played in Serie B.

“I hope today's match marks a return to the way things were in the first part of the season, when we were a better team than they have been recently.”

This Roma side has won a lot and yet it's come in for a fair bit of criticism recently...

“We accept criticism and it's normal but we put a lot of care and effort into what we do.

"We know what happened to this team. Playing lots of matches one after another takes its toll, even when you're young: when you're playing on Sunday and Wednesday and regularly going away on international duty you can't always perform at your best. You need two top-level teams to be able to take part in all the competitions.

"We saw the real Roma tonight though – a team that knows how to fight and dig in when needed.”

Did Soleri's goal help throw off the mental shackles?

“We came under too much pressure in the opening 45 minutes. Entella have two or three players who can really cause problems for you.

"The goal did change us – it changed the way we were playing and it changed us mentally. It wasn't just Soleri's goal though. The whole side pulled together in the second half and we played with more energy. I saw the sort of grit and determination that reminded me of the way we used to play in first part of the season.”

This was your 503rd match in charge of the Primavera and your seventh trophy. How does it feel?

“The one thing that hasn't changed throughout it all is Roma. It's easy to do a good job when everything is well organised and you have real quality to work with. You can't win anything without the players – that really must to be said. I know what I can do and I have to do my job but I recognise the club has put a team of top professionals alongside me. You need that if you want to win trophies.”

What bearing could this success have on the rest of the season?

“Let's hope it takes us back to where we were.”