Rudiger: Believe we can finish second

After the Giallorossi's derby victory - which coincided with Napoli losing at Udinese - the Germany defender has claimed Roma must endeavour to win their remaining league matches to try and catch the Azzurri.

“We have to believe second place is possible,” revealed Rudiger on Monday morning in an interview with Roma Radio. ”As [Luciano] Spalletti has said, our aim must be Champions League football and the easiest way of securing that is by qualifying directly for the group stage. We're four points behind Napoli, who still have to play us and Fiorentina. We have a chance of achieving it but we need to do our bit by winning all our matches.”

How do you feel a day on from winning the derby?

“I feel great, I'm delighted to have won my second derby. It's great to see how happy the supporters are after this victory.”

You're among a group of players who have won two derbies out of two...

“Let's hope that continues because it's a special fixture and I always want to win games like these.”

Roma could have scored more in the first half before switching off for a 10-minute spell after the break.

“Absolutely. We performed excellently in the first half but we should have scored more goals and led at least 3-0. We had some hairy moments in the second period, we got lucky, but sometimes you need that too. God was on our side.”

Spalletti moved you out to the right, bringing on [Ervin] Zukanovic and pushing [Alessandro] Florenzi higher up the pitch, from where he later scored...

“Yes, the coach nailed that change, shuffling me out to the right and pushing Florenzi further forward. That was definitely a good switch from the coach.”

How is your partnership with [Kostas] Manolas developing?

“It's improving all the time. We didn't know each other that well before but we're honing our understanding thanks to the tactical work we do as a backline.”