Alberto De Rossi hails Primavera courage and character in UYL success

“It was a really strong showing of character,” the coach declared after the match. “Lots of teams would have come apart after falling behind here but we kept ourselves firmly on track and got back into it. That's immensely satisfying.

“As a coach you can teach technique and tactics and you can hone your players' fitness,” De Rossi continued. “But courage and character aren't easy qualities to instil in a team and with this performance today our boys showed they have plenty.”

The Giallorossi's penalty triumph - following a 2-2 draw in regular time - sees them reach the quarter-finals for the second year running and they now face another away game, against Paris Saint-Germain.

“It's always pleasing when you're picking up results but we mustn't forget that our real job is to prepare players for first-team football. Having said that, moments like today bring great joy and of course it doesn't mean you're not doing your job! Let's hope we can keep going in this competition.”

It's another last-16 win on penalties in Holland like last year...

“Yes, and I thought it was very similar to our game against Ajax last season – that was an exciting end-to-end game too. Two teams fought hard to win it today and I feel a draw was a fair result after 90 minutes.”

PSV caused big problems for you by getting in behind the backline...

“That's something that can happen when you play 4-3-1-2. You lose a bit in the wide areas in midfield and they hurt us there, like all good teams who can play a bit. But we're strong through the middle. We put a lot of pressure on their centre-backs with our man in the hole and that's where we managed to really get at them.”

Your voice sounds as if it's had enough after all that excitement...

“We're delighted, we really are. It's not easy to come here, go through penalties and beat a top-class Dutch outfit. People sometimes say Roma don't have what it takes to go all the way but we dug deep today and showed real character away from home. We maintained our composure despite falling behind and then again when it came to the shootout. My only quibble is that after scoring the second we didn't push on and go for the third. Perhaps we were too focused on holding onto our lead. That's the only negative but otherwise the lads deserve nothing but praise tonight.”