Gasperini's media conference ahead of Rangers v Roma

This is what the boss had to say...

How is Artem Dovbyk doing? Given the injury problems in attack, could this be a decisive moment for him?
 

“He's fine. Fortunately he's not one of those injured. He's available but there's never a single decisive moment. Every moment is important. Right now it's important for tomorrow in the Europa League.”

What sort of match are you expecting? And what do you think of the atmosphere here?
 
“As always at grounds like this, it's going to be a very difficult game. You're up against a cauldron of a stadium and a very energetic team. Rangers have had two excellent performances since changing coach. We expect it to be very challenging from an athletic point of view. We'll need to be in great shape if we want to perform well.”

Is your target still to finish in the top 24 of the league stage or do you still have hope of getting into the top eight?
 

“We have to achieve as much as we can. Obviously we'll need to be very careful in our two home games. We need to win at least three of the next five to qualify but they're all tricky matches because every team in Europe is well prepared. We've seen that Italian teams find it difficult playing at a higher tempo than we're used to in Serie A.”

Are you worried about the fact that Roma are producing chances to score but still aren't scoring many? When your Atalanta team played in the final in Dublin, your expected goals was very low and yet you won 3-0.

“They're different matches. In that final we took the lead and with our second chance we went 2-0 up. You can't compare matches. It's different when you're in the lead, but yes, clearly percentage-wise we're scoring less than we're creating. That said, the fact that we're creating dangerous situations is already a positive. It would be worrying if we weren't.”

[Gasperini speaks after a question to Gianluca Mancini about his position in the build-up to the goal scored by AC Milan at the weekend]
 

“Why don't you have a go at [Strahinja] Pavlovic for pushing all the way up there to score? Or maybe we should always keep our defenders back? It wasn't a situation where we were particularly badly positioned. What went wrong? First of all, you have to consider the quality of your opponents. Look at where Pavlovic starts his run and shoots from. You can't always explain everything. You need to be a bit bold sometimes.”

How many changes are you planning to make for this game?

“I'm only thinking about tomorrow's game. We'll think about Sunday's game on Sunday. What should I be thinking about?”
 
Could Bryan Cristante not be rested, for example?

“What does 'rest' mean? For what reason? We'll rest tonight. Tomorrow when we play, we won't rest. I find it hard to understand this idea of resting...”

So basically, you're not a fan of rotation.

“No, that's another matter. If you're talking about rotating – or playing some other players – then that's different. But resting... You rest at home. As for who will play, we'll see. [Paulo] Dybala definitely won't play. [Leon] Bailey definitely won't play. We have 17 or 18 outfield players. We've brought [Alessandro] Romano with us too. We have lots...”

At the start of the season Neil El Aynaoui played further forward. Given the recent injuries, might we see him in that position again?

“Maybe. At the moment we're a bit short on numbers. I like it when he plays 20 metres further back but he could play further forward.”

Do you think Matias Soule has suffered a bit of a dip in recent games? How do you think he plays alongside Dybala?

“Soule has had some excellent performances but it's not easy for forwards to be consistent. He's been playing all the time. Sometimes he's been tired and he's been substituted. In any case, he's an added value for this team. I don't believe in this thing about Dybala. He's very important for us technically: he doesn't only help himself; he helps those around him to play better too.”