Florenzi discusses leadership ahead of Basaksehir visit

Club captain Alessandro Florenzi was the player selected to meet the media on Wednesday afternoon, as he discussed the team's Europa League opener against Istanbul Basaksehir.

The game against the Turkish side - runners-up in the league last season - gets underway at 21:00 local time at the Stadio Olimpico.

Florenzi received a number of questions from the journalists at Trigoria, as he held a press conference for one of the first time's since assuming the captain's armband.

Here's what the Italy international had to say...

How big of a help has it been to play at the Olimpico for the first few games of the season?

“Playing at home feels different but our aim is to be ourselves and play our game both home and away, regardless of the opponent or the stadium we’re playing at. That’s our aim for the season. Obviously we feel more at ease at home.”

Yourself and Lorenzo Pellegrini are the two Roman players in the side. Do you feel a weight of expectation?

“We feel the responsibility, but I think I can speak for both of us here when I say that we feel a strong sense of belonging towards this club and are very proud to wear such an important shirt. The responsibility is there and we fully accept it. We hope we can do well and try to make our team-mates understand what Rome and Roma are all about.”

Fonseca decided not to have both the full-backs push up against Sassuolo. Do you feel more comfortable in that system?

“There will be games when the coach wants the full-backs to really push on – every match is analysed in great detail. For the Sassuolo game, the coach decided that just one of the full-backs would push up, so in that match Aleks [Kolarov] got forward more than me, which freed me up to build the play from the back. That was what we had worked on and that’s how we played for the majority of the game.

"Regardless of that, I don’t think it would have mattered what system we used on Sunday: you saw a proper, humble team of players that were ready to battle for and help their team-mates. Not with words, but with actions. Take that run by Justin [Kluivert] and the foul on [Domenico] Berardi, for example. Many things spring to mind, but if we show that spirit throughout games then we’ll have a good season.

"We can’t make the same mistake of resting on our laurels – that’s something we’ve done at Roma in the past. I think that would be the biggest mistake we could make and as captain I feel I have to make sure the whole team avoids that. That’s one of my goals.”

Why haven’t Roma helped themselves in recent years and why have you allowed yourselves to rest on your laurels after certain results?

“I’ve been through that myself, many times. I think it all starts with mentality – that can come from the players, the coach, the club. We’ve come up short in that regard many times and I myself could have done more in the past to prevent that from happening.

"But that’s the past now, we’re focusing on the present now and we hope to do things properly. We can’t get ahead of ourselves – we just need to put in that extra bit of running to help out a team-mate. And I’ve seen that in the first few games.”

Are you ready to play in a more attacking wide position?

“I’m focused on Roma and on what Roma needs. I will do whatever the coach asks me to do. I’ll give 100%. I hope to do my bit for the team, whether that’s in attack, in defence, on the right or on the left. It doesn’t make any difference.”

What do you make of the injuries your team-mates have picked up so far?

“I don’t think Roma are the only side that have had injuries, right? Let’s get that straight first of all. There are lots of factors. There are lots of games, there’s stress, there are the playing surfaces, which are being addressed. A lot of money has been spent to relay the pitch.

"The club agreed that the pitch might have been having an impact in terms of injuries, which we obviously had too many of last year. We want to try to minimise injuries, but there’s no one reason.”

Do you want to send a message to Primavera youngster Devid Bouah after his injury?

“I also spoke to Marco Tumminello, who was with us at Primavera level here, but Devid’s story is one that strikes even closer to home because he plays in my position and I’ve been through all that. I found out when he was having a scan and I spoke to him in the evening and in the days that followed. He needs to be strong mentally, because it’s not easy to pick yourself up. It’s easy to say but nothing is easy in practice.

"He needs to surround himself with the right people – people that love him and will tell him when something needs to be said. There are experts for this. In my case, I wanted to get back quicker – out of love – and I might have lost something on the way. I told him to relax and to look at this another obstacle to overcome. As I told him, if I managed it with the physique I have, then he can easily do it.”

As captain, how will you be different to Francesco Totti and Daniele De Rossi?

“Before, I had role models to look up to and they were fantastic examples for me. Francesco and Daniele gave everything for Roma and that’s what I’ve taken from them – putting Roma first. I want to set an example on the pitch, but first of all you have to be loyal and humble.

"On the pitch, humility is about showing determination and hunger, which are the attributes you need to win a game. You can never give up, even when you’re 4-0 down in the 90th minute. Even if you’re losing, you can’t stop until the referee blows his whistle. There’s no better feeling than leaving the pitch with your head held high, being proud of what you’ve done on the pitch and being able to say: ‘I gave it my all.’ If you give everything you have, everybody sees that – the players, the coach, the fans.

"Even if you lose a game, if the coach sees that his players have fought for the full 90 minutes, he’ll know that he hasn’t lost the war. I don’t want to lose any matches – I want to win the war and set an example. That’s what the young players who want to wear this jersey will see.”

What went wrong last year and how has the club changed internally?

“There’s a different atmosphere here. We’re building a group where everyone is important, from the first player to the last. Every player can make their contribution to us winning game.

"Having said that, I don’t want to speak about last year. I want to speak about the present and what we can achieve this season. We can achieve great things if we take it game by game without looking too far ahead.”