Alberto De Rossi: Topping the group 'feels special'

The Giallorossi, who had already qualified for the Final Eight, now hold a four-point advantage over their nearest rivals Palermo with just one game left to play in the regular season. Finishing top means they will avoid the other group winners when the draw is made for the finals, to be played between 24 May and 7 June.

After the match, Primavera boss Alberto De Rossi expressed his delight with the performance and sealing top spot while hailing the overall quality of his squad.

“Everything went to plan today,” he admitted. “We produced a top display and results elsewhere went our way so we needn't worry about any nasty surprises on the final day.

"We'd already qualified for the finals but finishing top of the group feels special. We're thrilled.”

Five players shared the goals in Trigoria, with Emanuele Spinozzi bagging a hat-trick, Ezequiel Ponce hitting two and further strikes from Silvio Anocic, Emanuele Ndoj and Marco Tumminello, but De Rossi feels the timing of the first goal - with the match barely a minute old - was key.

“Most teams who come here sit back and try to make it tough for you so you need to be able to get that first goal to open the game up. We figured that if we could find an early goal today it would set us on our way.

“Latina were really well organised and they made it hard for us to pass the ball about. They were missing lots of players because they were away with the first team too, otherwise it would have been a different game. The scoreline is misleading because it wasn't a walkover."

Scoring all those goals demonstrates the strength in depth of your squad.

“That's what is so satisfying for myself and the coaching staff – bringing players through and giving them the chance to shine. The Primavera league is an important competition but at the end of the day we're still a youth academy and we need to give everyone an opportunity to show what they can do – if they deserve it. And all these boys do deserve it."

Unfortunately Nura got injured again.

“He started off well this year but sadly since November he's had one problem after another. He'd just come back from a spell on the sidelines after picking up a knock against Pescara. He'd got himself fit again and was ready to play but then he pulled up with another problem soon after coming on. We'll need to take another look at him.”

Did you expect there to be such a scramble among the teams behind you to reach the play-offs?

“We know what our rivals are like and we knew that lots of them were capable of mounting a challenge. They all deserve to be in the hunt for a play-off spot. It's a thrilling battle that's set to go right to the wire.”