De Rossi targets confidence-boosting result at Bernabeu

The game at the Santiago Bernabeu gets underway at 21:00 local time.

Do we need to demand more from this squad, like last season, or accept this Roma side as it is?

“We are always the first to demand more from ourselves, although it is not easy to compare two sides. The night against Barcelona came in April, after six or seven months of improvement and a growing understanding. This is just the start of another new campaign. We should ask more but I think back to that Roma side that beat Barcelona, it had its problems before too and took a lot of criticism.

"But in the end the season was a good one, even if it ended without a trophy, and I can only be confident going forward.”

What do you think about the transfers this year, and those who say Roma sold too many players?

“Seasons will always be influenced by the transfer market, always, throughout the game. Players will always be sold and players will always be bought. It has always been like that, and Roma has always regenerated itself, regardless of the sales. It is pointless to always dwell on this point.

"Even two summers ago we sold important players, players that made some think we couldn’t possibly have a better season than the one before – but then we achieved things we had never done before.”

Sergio Ramos talked today about Real without Ronaldo. What do you think a team loses when a player like that leaves?

“Anything goes in the transfer market, everyone buys and sells, so I don’t know what you can do when you lose a player of that level. Sometimes a winning cycle needs a jolt to keep going, but that’s not something for me to worry about.

"As a captain I would say that the important thing is to think about the players we have – me at Roma, Ramos for Real – and support them every step of the way, even when things are going less well. Just as we did last season and in those that went well.”

Will you continue to play with your own captain’s armband?

“I already spoke to the coach about this, and with Alessandro Florenzi. The thing that annoyed me personally is that in the end it was just me and Fiorentina in this position, and I need to respect that there are reasons much more important than mine to wear a different armband. In my opinion too much time has been wasted on this. There was no need to make this rule, there was no need to standardise the armbands in Serie A.

"There are many more important problems to sort out; I have heard from a lot of people that this is a silly rule, from people that I have a lot of respect for. But it is not like I will lose sleep over whether I wear my armband or Serie A’s. I need to respect my colleagues at Fiorentina, who have a reason to wear their own that is much important than mine. From the next game I will put on the Serie A armband, out of respect for Fiorentina because I am not on their level. They recently suffered a horrible loss, and their reasons are much more important as a result.”

Do you think this is the ideal game to have in a moment like this?

“If I had to chose, this would not seem the best possible game to have next. But, given the result of a few days ago, bringing back points from this game could give us a boost and help us rediscover some confidence – reminding us we were a great side three months ago and we can be again very quickly.”

Everyone is convinced that you are struggling, that you are disappointed with the players sold: can you tell us the truth?

“I have put down roots here, there aren’t many players in football these days that stay at the same club for a very long time. Roma is one example of a club where some players have stayed for years and years, even the whole time with the same club. It’s true that there are players that were born and developed here, but it is also possible to do it like Sergio Ramos has at Madrid – or move on like Ronaldo did this summer.

"Football offers so many opportunities and solutions – the sadness at seeing a teammate leave can last two or three days, maybe a week, but we always have to keep working to get the results we want. Football always moves on, at this point I’ve seen a lot of teammates come and go.”

Do you want to say something about the critics of Eusebio Di Francesco?

“I have not changed my opinion – he is not the first coach that has been criticised, it is something that happens when you don’t win and the players and the club can be on the receiving end of that as well. At Roma we want everything straight away, but here at Real Madrid it seems to me it is the same.

"The facts don’t change, though, in his first year here Eusebio took the team somewhere it had never been before. He is a coach with a precise footballing philosophy, which we know and which we know delivers results. Right now he will not be happy, just like we aren’t. But it was similar last season, when in the end we finished third and reached the Champions League semi-finals.”

What will it be like to play at the Bernabeu again? Could this be the last time for you?

“It could be the last Champions League for me, and the last time I play here. But we have an important game to play and we need to get a result which, right now, would be big for us. Playing here is always an honour.”

Here you also played in a game with Italy which was important in not qualifying for the World Cup...

“I just went into the changing room a few moments ago, and I got a painful flashback that I had tried to forget. That sensation I won’t take out on the pitch: we will think about the times that we have won here with Roma, the times the fans celebrated with Francesco Totti out there.”

Which player would you like to remove from Real? Is it a relief Ronaldo isn’t there anymore?

“There are a lot of great players, perhaps not like Ronaldo, but it’s not a relief or a pleasure just because he won’t be there. If they had sold another eight or nine players then maybe so, but that didn’t happen.

"Ronaldo often scored against us, but they have good players in defence, midfield, attack – they have quality in every position and I have great respect for them, but no fear.”