Monchi: We need to rediscover our belief

The Giallorossi were unable to get off to a positive start in Group G, on a tough night at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Could Roma have done better?

“You can always do better. We came up a bit short in the first half but I prefer to look at the second – I think we can kick on from there. The players went out after the break more determined and with more belief.

"Of course you need points and we must carry on working and improving the things we haven't done so well thus far. It was a very difficult game today – even the best Roma from last year might have lost out there. We're talking about one of the best teams in the world. If we analyse Roma's second-half display, we can look forward with optimism.”

What do Roma need to rediscover their confidence and belief?

“Winning restores confidence but we do need to change some things. We saw something a bit different today. We must take the positives from our performance against an excellent side such as Real Madrid and move on. People always say you have to work hard but building confidence is important too. Psychologically we're not on top of our game and that's stopping us from playing to our full potential.”

A good result would have been a morale boost but were you happy with the performance?

“We showed improvement in some areas. Now we need to find the right way to move forward. We knew the game wouldn't be easy because we were playing one of the toughest teams of the lot but I still think we did some good things. We mustn't look back now but forward.

"Our fans and the club deserve that and so do the players, who are determined to get us out of this spell we're going through.”

Do you think the second-half improvement was more down to mentality or the substitutions?

“Lots of things are important in football – hard work, quality, physicality but in my view he most important of all is your mentality. That's what helps you decide what to do in each and every moment. I put the change in the second half down to our mentality.”

So what needs to be done to turn things around? Change mentality?

“Right now we have to back our players and rebuild their belief. Belief is vital in football, as it is in life. If we're here at the Bernabeu today, it's thanks to the hard work lots of these players put in last season.

"We have to help them and they need us too. We must stick together and move forward side by side.”