Fonseca: The league is not over for us yet

Roma face Atalanta at the Stadio Olimpico on Thursday evening (kick-off: 18:30 CET), looking to bounce back after the weekend defeat at the hands of Torino.

Here's what Fonseca had to say about the upcoming game - as well as the Super League, injured players and more.

It’s all going on in football at the minute. As a football man, what do you make of the news that 12 teams wanted to create something just for themselves?

“Like pretty much all the other coaches, I am totally against a Super League. But I’ll go further than that. I am a man who is proud to be part of football today. Because the football family has shown a few things over the last few days. They have shown that what controls football is not money – but the fans, and then after that the players and the coaches. We have shown that the fans are the most important.

"I am extremely proud about the way the main figures have taken a strong position on behalf of our sport. I am totally against a Super League. And so clearly I am also very proud of Roma’s position on it.”

Is your squad just not quite good enough to fight on two fronts?

“Up until the end of March the side was pretty much always inside the top four. Then we lost a few key players, and we had the Europa League to compete in too. Whereas the other sides had the whole week to train, sometimes we have had just one day. So things can happen. But we want to get back to being at our best in Serie A and play well tomorrow.”

Could Roma take inspiration from Atalanta’s model going forward?

“No, they are different clubs. I have to say that what Atalanta are doing deserves to be admired. But the ideas are different, you can’t make this sort of comparison.”

Other than the injuries, what reasons can be given for the regression in the league this season?

“Now is not the time to make assessments. We still have the Serie A campaign to finish, and also the semi-finals of the Europa League.”

Are you worried that in future there could be another attempt to create a competition like the Super League?

“No, I’m not worried about that… we have seen this great example of the power of football. I think we can improve on a lot of things but, during this unprecedented difficult moment caused by Covid-19, the system has found a way to survive. We are playing, albeit without the fans in the stands – but we are waiting for them to be back soon too.”

Roma seem to be suffering something of an identity crisis. What sort of team should we expect over the next few games?

“A motivated one. The league is not done for us. Now we have to think about the game against Atalanta, knowing that we did not perform well against Torino. We didn’t play like we should have done, although we didn’t lose our identity.”

Are you worried you might be without Pedro for the first leg against Manchester United too?

“I am not thinking about the game against Manchester United – we have games against Atalanta and Cagliari to focus on first. But I should say that I am optimistic about the injured players. I think that shortly we should have pretty much all of them back.”

How do you assess Roma’s Serie A campaign so far?

“It’s clear that we are not doing everything that we wanted to. But the assessments should only be done at the end. Up until now, however, we could have done more.”

Is it possible to manage finances and also be competitive?

“Yes, I think so. But I think that time is also a key element for any club looking to improve and grow.”

How are you preparing the side for tomorrow’s game?

“With ambition. We have to put in a good performance against a strong side – but we need to be ambitious too. The league is not over for us. There are games we want to win.”

How are Jordan Veretout and Henrikh Mkhitaryan doing as they try to get back to their best?

"They are doing well. They were both injured, then in the first few games back they were not at their best physically – but it’s important they get games under their belt. And now they are improving day-by-day.”