Pellegrini: This is the biggest game of my career to date

What do Roma have about them that makes them better than Feyenoord?

“I think tomorrow it’s a final. It’s a winner takes all affair, 90 minutes. I don’t feel like I can say that either team is better than the other. What I can say, and this is for sure, is that we will do everything our power to win the game – that’s why we’ve come here. We will go out there tomorrow and play with hunger, as the coach has just said. We will try to cap off our progress this season with a win.”

As captain, what is the message you will try to transmit to the rest of the squad?

“I think a final is something different to all the other match. I would just say to my teammates: thank you. Beyond how the game goes tomorrow, it’s been an amazing season. Every single player has sacrificed to help each other; we’ve gone through tough times together and we’ve celebrated together too. That’s what, in my opinion, makes a true team and a true group. I said it recently, it’s a feeling I’ve had for a while.

“When you can build a true, united group everything becomes easier. We want the final to go one way and we will do everything we can to make that happen.”

Do you have a message for the fans who will be coming over here from Rome?

“Our fans have been incredible this season, they’ve been behind us every step of the way. In the tough moments as well as the good ones we’ve managed to have. We are at the end of the season, tomorrow we will be playing a game that is really important for both us and them. We can assure them that tomorrow Roma will go out on the pitch and give everything in us to win the game.”

It’s exactly 14 years since Roma last lifted a trophy. Where were you on that occasion? Did you ever think that 14 years later you would be the captain of the team and in a European final?

“Fourteen years I was definitely with my family, we are all fans of Roma and we would have been all together. Beyond that, obviously, I would never have thought I would be here and about to play in such an important game for us. I’ve said it before, this season we’ve improved more than ever and, in the end, who wouldn’t want to bring home something that would live forever?

“I think that tomorrow’s game needs to be approached with happiness, serenity in certain aspects, which doesn’t mean that we won’t be focused or determined because it’s normal we will be both of those things in a game like this. I hope that tomorrow can end up becoming one of the most beautiful days in my life.”

Agostino Di Bartolomei, Giuseppe Giannini, Francesco Totti and Daniele De Rossi were all unable to lift a European trophy. Will the chance of correcting that a bit tomorrow motivate you?

“Yes, absolutely. I think it’s a great responsibility to be able to take on. If you want to win something then you have to be ready to take on responsibility. I would be delighted to win this match tomorrow. But it’s wrong to tie that just to me because, just because I’m the captain and born in Rome.

“A team is not just about a player or a coach, it’s about all the components within it. When I say that we are becoming a true team, I’m talking about all aspects. If tomorrow we were to win the final, then this team would start thinking about the next thing we can win.”

Is this the most important game of your career?

“For me, absolutely yes. It’s the first final I will play in, the first game where I have the chance to win a trophy. What’s more, I’m doing it wearing this shirt. I couldn’t think of a better game to be involved in.”