Gasperini: “This team always bounces back”

Here's what the boss had to say:

That was a decent day's work for Roma. You only let Cagliari have one shot on goal.

“It was a solid performance, no doubt. We played the first half at a high tempo. Ours is a team that always bounces back, in this case from our defeat in Udine. We played with grit and desire. It's a shame we couldn't score another goal in the first half. The second half was excellent too, though not as good as the first.”

Did you expect Donyell Malen to have this big an impact?

“I'm convinced he's a top player. We have to make sure we help him and give him the right sort of service. He's a difficult player to contain with such a vast repertoire.”

Have you started hammering your ideas into Malen too or did he not need it? Who does he remind you of? Some have likened him to Marco van Basten.

“Van Basten had a different physique. [Gianluca] Vialli had a similar ability to shake off his marker and get in behind. Malen has similar movements.”

Shall we tell them you're not that sort of coach?

“Who says I am? Tell me one player who's said I'm nasty! [laughing]"

We saw you talking to Marco Palestra. Would you like to have him at Roma?

“Palestra is a top player and he's just 20. We had him start training with the [Atalanta] first team when he was 17. Then he played for the Under 23 team and we always had lots of players in that position. I think that experience in Serie C and being in the senior squad last year in Serie A and the Champions League were very good for him. He's come on a lot since then. He's a really good footballer despite his young age."

What's it like to play 95 minutes with no intervention from VAR?

“Wonderful. Fantastic. It means everything went well and there were no critical moments. The referee saw them all without the need for television cameras. The perfect match.”

How do you see the race for the Champions League shaping up? You're level on points with Juventus now.

“I don't know but we're trying to keep up with our rivals. We're level with Juventus, then there's Napoli. Inter are already out in front. It's not easy for us to play against teams like this but the fact that we're up there with them means a lot to us. We want to improve in our attacking play. Malen gives us a lot more. Hopefully we'll get some injured players like [Paulo] Dybala back soon. You need to be effective in attack if you want to challenge for the top spots.”