Alberto De Rossi hails Primavera's 'near perfect' display against Entella

Ezequiel Ponce opened the scoring in the 28th minute before Jose Machin added a second six minutes from time.

Speaking after the final whistle, De Rossi made little attempt to hide his satisfaction.

“The lads were magnificent in the second half,” the Giallorossi coach said. “If we want to be really picky, perhaps we should have exploited a few situations a bit better but otherwise it was a near-perfect performance.

“It was a balanced affair, very tight, and it took a great move for us to break the deadlock. After that we defended really well against the league's top scorers and wrapped it up late on.”

You were missing a few players today but the team was still strong enough to overcome the difficulties.

“This is a group of lads that's been playing together for years – apart from Ponce, who spent more time in Argentina. They've always stuck together. When they have to deal with absences or difficulties this group just pulls closer together.”

Did you expect Virtus Entella to be as good as this?

“Entella are an excellent team and they've shown that. They've scored a hatful of goals and tried to impose their game wherever they've played. It was normal for us to encounter difficulties against a side like that and it's satisfying to have got the better of them. It was a match between two evenly-matched teams - that's what you expect in the Final Eight.”

Now you have a semi-final to play against Inter.

“Against another great team. We'll start thinking about them tomorrow. We watched them live yesterday and they're a very strong, physical side with quality throughout the squad. They're very good, but so are we.”

Roma and Inter will face off at Mapei Stadium in Reggio Emilia on Tuesday 31 May. Kick-off is at 20:30 CEST.