Pjanic: Roma are back

Miralem Pjanic believes Roma are well and truly back to their true selves.

The Bosnian midfielder, who scored the second Giallorossi goal in today's 3-1 win over Empoli, believes the team is playing with re-found enthusiasm and confidence, setting them up for a stellar end to the season.

"Roma are back," Pjanic declared after the game."We're playing with enthusiasm and a sure touch. Now we need to continue in this spirit because we want to have a great end to the season under Luciano Spalletti."

What are the emotions after this victory at the Stadio Carlo Castellani?

"We're happy about the win tonight and how it came about. We're playing well and creating chances too. We're all ready to carry on this progress.

"We've picked up three big points, worked hard for it as a group and gave some joy to our fans.

"It's true that we had a blip three months ago but, once again, the team is back and is playing with excitement and delight at being on the pitch."

You've just picked up your sixth win on the bounce...

"We were made to sweat for it in the second half, but the third goal freed us up a bit. At times we could have done better, but this is a great victory against a good opponent.

"I think we deserved it and we'll enjoy these three points."

You had the fans behind you again here at Empoli. How important is this for you?

"This is good for us and for them, it's good for the whole of Roma. We're on a good run, picking up victories and playing good football."

Are Napoli and Juventus too far ahead?

"We're not thinking about that. We're taking things game after game and then we'll see.

"Let's see how the other matches go this weekend and then we'll turn our focus to Fiorentina. We've done our bit this week, now let's wait for what the others can do."

We see that Spalletti is constantly barking at you, why is that?

"He has his ways of doing things. The coach is always on our backs and demands a lot from us, but the squad is doing fine under him and there's a really good spirit in the camp.

"We know the gaffer protects us and we want to continue our great run of form with him in charge."