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It was a case of picking up from where they left off for the Primavera, who finished the 2015-16 campaign as champions of Italy, beating Juventus on penalties in the final.
And Sunday’s Peronne Cup win was especially satisfying, given that many of the team had been moved up to the Primavera squad from the lower categories of the Roma youth set-up.
“It’s always nice to start the season with a trophy,” said Alberto De Rossi shortly after the Giallorossi’s penalty shoot-out win over Udinese in the final. “I’m satisfied, especially because many of the Primavera lads are away on international duty so we had to bring lots of players up from the Allievi squad. The players did very well.”
How happy are you to begin the new season with another trophy?
“Very happy. We weren’t expecting to win the tournament because we were missing a lot of players and had to bring a lot of youngsters up from the Allievi squads. There were several lads playing who are only 16 or 17, but they all stepped up.
“I want to underline the great work the club is doing in selecting quality players for every youth team. Usually three weeks is never enough to prepare for and win such a big international tournament, but we were able to on this occasion because of the efforts of coaches elsewhere in the youth academy.
"In this case the credit goes to Alessandro Toti and Alessandro Rubinacci, who made sure the players were ready. I can assure you that it’s not easy to play at this level when you’re two or three years younger.”
Did anyone stand out in particular?
“I think it’s more fitting to praise the work of AS Roma and its youth academy as a whole. As we’ve seen here in Normandy, all of the youth players throughout all of the categories are very professional and know what we aspire to – performing well in every match, playing good football and trying to win.
“That’s a mentality you see in every one of our youth teams and it’s been on show again here, with 16- and 17-year-olds coming here and helping us secure victory in an important competition like the Peronne Cup.”
What do you take from this tournament?
“There’s been some top-level football at the Peronne Cup, with very good sides facing off against each other. I’d pick out PSV – they were fantastic and caused us real trouble in the semis. We played them in the Youth League last season too.
"They don’t let you play, they press high and they put you under pressure. As well as that, the Dutch always know how to play good football and they had the big advantage of being a lot older than us. That said, we fought hard and got the win this time too."
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