De Rossi: The attitude was right but the goal wouldn't come

The Giallorossi were held at bay by Skorupski, who made a number of fantastic saves over the course of the 90 minutes.

“We created so many chances and [Lukasz] Skorupski played very well," De Rossi said. "I think he was man of the match. He saved all of our chances and they defended well at the end when we were attacking in numbers.

"It's a shame, it wasn't our best performance but we were the team forcing the issue. We created a lot of chances but couldn't finish them off. I think it was one of the few games in which we've failed to score a single goal.

"It hurts because we wanted to stay close to Juventus and break away from the teams behind us. Nevertheless, there's still a long way to go. As opposed to other away games where we've failed to get the victory, I think the team's attitude was spot on today."

What's the difference between you and Juventus?

"If we look at the league table, I think you can sum it up in two games: Cagliari v Roma and Empoli v Roma, two matches that Roma should have won easily but instead we failed. They're completely different though: I think we put in a good performance today. We could have played better but the result rests on individual incidents. On the other hand, I won't forget the Cagliari game until the end of the season, but after today I don't feel the need to blame ourselves too much. We just needed one fewer miracle from Skorupski and the table would have been different, as would our mood."

Maybe there was a slight lack of focus today, especially psychologically.

"In terms of our focus, in defence as well, there was the risk of getting exposed and occasionally that happened, but we were always compact. In these games, you step out onto the pitch fully aware that you have to win it, but this was the result today and I didn't see too much carelessness compared to other matches, although given the final scoreline certain things stand out more. Also, the pitch wasn't that good and put us and them on edge. Our opponents would also have preferred to play on a better surface."