Nicola says side will rise to challenge against Roma

The newly-promoted side – embarking on their first ever top-flight campaign – face the Giallorossi after a difficult start to the season, which has seen them pick up one point from four games and sit bottom of the early table.

However, the weekend draw with Palermo has given the side confidence – and their manager believes the prospect of testing themselves against some of the best players in the league will raise their level even further on Wednesday night.

“You don’t need to work on mentality and motivation for a match like this,” Nicola said. “We’re all up for it because it’s great to play against one of the biggest teams in the league. We have the same desire we always do and we know we need to perform well for the entire match.”

He added: “I know that Roma are a top team with real quality. We’re not afraid – we’re looking forward to seeing what we can achieve and seeing how big the gap is between our teams. Roma have some fantastic players that can hit an even higher level when they play as a team.

“One of the things I like about my job is that you often have the chance to pull off amazing achievements. We’re training hard to make sure we can do that at least once.”

Crotone may sit bottom of the table at this early stage in the campaign, despite taking the lead on more than one occasion already. Nicola prefers to look at that trend as a sign that his side are on the right track.

“I think it’s positive that we’ve been able to take the lead several times, given that we’re new to the league,” he added. “It shows that our approach is right and that we want to play our own game. It’s also true that a one-goal lead isn’t enough in Serie A.

“On a physical level, a high-intensity first half takes its toll on you. We’ve actually discovered that we run further in the second half than we do in the first – but we run better in the first half. We also need to take more of our chances.”