Mancini: We're ready, physically and mentally

Read everything defender Gianluca Mancini had to say ahead of Wednesday's Europa Conference League final...

Roma face Feyenoord at the Arena Kombetare in Tirana.

Kick-off is at 21:00 CEST.

What should most worry Roma about Feyenoord?

“In a final you shouldn’t be scared of anything. We’ve studied Feyenoord, we’ve prepared for the game and we know what we have to do. We know their strengths and weaknesses, we know they have quality in midfield and further forward as well. Just like we do. We are the two sides who have done the best in this competition, it’s a 50-50 game.”

For a defender like yourself, very aggressive, do you have to change your approach at all for a final?

“Are you asking me if I am going to get a yellow card? Joking apart, finals are different in a few ways. The mental element is very important for us defenders. You need to understand what the opponents want to do. You need to keep a cool head and that will be especially true tomorrow.

“Finals are about the details, small mistakes can make the difference. My style of playing is to be aggressive, to try and keep the attacker’s back to goal but, as I’ve said, I’ll need to be even more focused tomorrow.”

What would you say to the fans ahead of tomorrow?

“This year the fans have been unique – they’ve been so amazing for us both home and away. Tomorrow some of them will be here and some will be at the Olimpico. The only thing we can do, as a thank you, is give everything we have out there to try and achieve something special.”

Do you agree that, as Jose Mourinho already said a week ago, Feyenoord will be the fresher team going into this game, having not played for more than a week?

“What the coach said was true. If we had already been in fifth before the last three games, we would have been able to approach them differently. Instead those three games were important and we needed to win the last one.

“But tomorrow is a final; we could have to play for 300 minutes and we’d still give everything to make sure it ended up how we want. It’s the last game of the season, you can’t feel any tiredness. We have had two weeks where we only played once a week and we’ve had five days to recover from the Torino game, so I think we are doing well physically and mentally.”

Have you spoken to Marash Kumbulla about the city and the event?

“Marash told us about it straight after the semi-final against Leicester; he said the Albanian fans will support Roma and we are really happy about that.”

When did you think that you might reach the final of this competition?

“To be honest, at the start of the season. From when we had those first two qualification games [against Trabzonspor]. Our minimum target was to reach the final. But it’s easy to say that, you need to go and do it.

“We started the group stage and I think, a bit like everyone, we thought it would be simple – but then we took a battering in Bodo. From then on we understood that in European games you always have to be switched on, whoever you are facing. From then on whether it was Vitesse or Bodo we’ve done our best in every game to reach the final. It’s taken 14 games and we started off in August. Now we just need to take that final step to do something amazing.”

Is it the most important game of your career?

“I’ve been in a Coppa Italia final, but a European final is something different. There’s a longer path to get there, it’s harder … so yes, it’s the most important game of my career.”

Has Tammy Abraham asked you to stop Cyril Dessers, to help him finish as the top goalscorer of the competition?

“Not just me, but the whole team. Defending is done as a team, it’s just that we are the nearest ones to the opposition attackers. I’ve studied him, I’ve watched him and he’s a good forward. We have a better one, Tammy. As I’ve said, I hope that tomorrow at 11pm he is the top goalscorer in this competition.”