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“It’s a tough time,” began De Rossi. “But regardless of the absentees, we need to go into every game looking to dominate and show our quality. We are able to field a competitive side against an equally strong team.”
Empoli are currently in third position, two points behind Roma in the league standings.
“I hope it’s a repeat of the first match, but as I’ve said our 5-0 win didn’t do Empoli justice. I was expecting them to keep up with us throughout the season and that’s how it’s turned out, and indeed up until the last round of matches they were ahead of us. Empoli as a club place great importance in their youth academy and do some great work in that regard. We’ll try to press them high and produce a great performance,” continued De Rossi.
De Rossi’s side have been particularly struck by absences up front, as the Primavera coached explained: “Marco Tumminello’s injury with his national team was a real blow. We’ve had some big problems this year in that sense, but we have to accept that. We had a forward line that was the envy of Italy and Europe, but it’s been greatly reduced. Luckily we’ve got Edoardo Soleri back.”
Although Roma’s first match of 2016 ended in Coppa Italia defeat to Inter, De Rossi was keen to reiterate his satisfaction with the way his side played against the Nerazzurri: “We spoke about the game before training today and I said well done to the lads again. I think they were better than a great side.”
Kick-off between Empoli and Roma is set for 14:30 CET on Saturday.
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