Alberto De Rossi: Important to extend our lead

“The win gives us great satisfaction and allows us to extend our lead over our direct rivals,” the Primavera boss said after the game. “The lads produced an excellent performance against a well-organised, pacey team that did well in defence and on the break.”

Grabbing the goals for De Rossi’s side were Lorenzo Di Livio in the 28th minute and Luca Pellegrini in the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time. The win sees Roma move onto 35 points at the top of the table, while second- and third-placed Frosinone and Empoli played out a 0-0 draw to leave them on 29 and 28 points respectively.

In truth the game wasn’t done and dusted until Pellegrini’s late goal, and De Rossi was quick to praise the Napoli showing: “There was a lot of back and forth in the game, just as we were expecting. Napoli don’t deserve to be where they are in the league and their performance today proved that. Apart from our win over them in the away fixture [a 6-3 victory in Naples], every match they’ve played has been tight. Twelfth place doesn’t reflect their true quality.”

De Rossi also gave an update on Edoardo Soleri, who was forced off with injury during the game to leave Roma with no recognised striker: “Soleri took a knock. In terms of our striking options, Marco Tumminello came back in bad shape from international duty, Ezequiel Ponce has had a long-term injury and Sadiq Umar is with the first team.

“I had to move Lorenzo Di Livio up front and he played his part in securing this vital win, along with all the other players,” confirmed De Rossi.

Next up for the Primavera is an away trip to Lanciano.