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Coach Paulo Fonseca faced the media on Tuesday afternoon to preview the forthcoming Serie A meeting with Inter Milan.
Wednesday's game at the San Siro gets underway at 20:45 CEST.
Here's what the boss had to say about the contest...
Are Ebrima Darboe and Nicola Zalewski ready to be part of the first-team squad at a top level club?
“What I can say is that they are ready, to be here with us now, to play for the team during the current period. They have quality. As far as the future goes, I don’t know. What I can say is that I have been pleased with them.”
Borja Mayoral has never scored so many goals in a season in his career. Did you tell Roma to invest in making his loan permanent?
“I will not be the coach for next season. Borja is young and it’s never easy for a young player to score 17 goals and provide so many assists. He’s having a good season – but everything else is a decision for the club and for the new coach.”
You always said you wanted to improve on last season’s league position and you have not managed that. Is that because of injuries?
“The assessments like this you have to make at the end of the season. We have reached a European semi-final, we’ve had problems, but you have to make these sort of evaluations at the end of the season.”
The 4-2-3-1 has always been your preferred system. Why did you wait so long to go back to it?
“It’s true, that’s the way I prefer to play, but I didn’t change back to it because up until March we were doing really well [with the 3-4-2-1]. Then, with some injuries as well, we were forced into certain selection decisions.”
Could pushing Gianluca Mancini into midfield be an option for these next two games?
“Yes, we’ll have to see what happens over the next few games. It’s true that I want to continue playing with three in that central midfield area. But what I can say is that Mancini won’t play in midfield tomorrow, he’ll be in defence.”
Lorenzo Pellegrini said on Sunday that Roma may have let their guard slip in the league. How could that happen?
“I don’t think it was a voluntary thing. Reaching a European semi-final was important. Perhaps the boys unconsciously started thinking more about the Europa League than the league.”
Does having style and grace really bring rewards in football?
“I don’t know. That’s just how I am. I think that the image you project is important. This is how I am.”
What are you expecting from Inter Milan tomorrow?
“Inter are a really good side. I congratulate them on winning the title. They aren’t under pressure any more and that will probably help them. They have been strong all season and I am sure they will be strong tomorrow as well – I’m expecting a difficult game.”
Will you have any players back for tomorrow’s game?
“Tomorrow we will have Stephan El Shaarawy, Carles Perez and Gonzalo Villar available. They are ready to help the team.”
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