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Read below what the defender had to say.
What has Gasperini given to Roma?
“The first thing he said when he came in here was that we needed the mentality of a team that wanted to dictate play, to play with confidence and believe in what he was drumming into us. We must think we'll win, that we're strong, and go into games like this with the belief that we can go toe to toe with whoever we come up against in this competition. To be playing in the Champions League is a huge success for us.”
Defensively you look more solid than you did in pre-season. What's changed there?
“It takes time. At the start of the season we know there's a big, heavy workload and the friendlies you play are part of the training – they complement the work you put in on the training ground every day. When the season starts it's different. We have the right mentality and we know what we need to do to perform at the level we were at last season. This is a massive season for us and we know that's where we need to be if we want to be playing in competitions like this. We know how important it is to be able to experience these Champions League nights – for us, for the fans and for everyone connected to the club – and we want to do well in this competition. It's important that we don't concede goals and that we get our forwards into goalscoring positions.”
You'll be up against Mason Greenwood, who might have ended up as your team-mate this year. What sort of game are you expecting?
“When you play in games like this, you're up against teams with top players and if you want to produce a big performance, you need to know what the strengths of your opponents and of each and every player are. We've done our homework. Playing this game is no different to playing the one we had a few days ago – you need the same intensity, mentality and approach. However, it's a new competition for us and one where we perhaps need to raise the bar a little compared to our domestic league. We need to produce the goods if we're to come away with three points.”
The Roma fans really identified with your celebration against Atalanta: instead of wasting time enjoying the moment, you ran straight back to your half to shake up the team and send out the message there was still time to win. Do you feel you set an example for the team's mentality?
“The mentality is something we all have. We showed that last season too, especially when we went through a rough patch. We sent out a message as a team by winning the games we needed to win to climb back up the table and qualify for this competition. We've all got that. The boss has instilled a key message inside us: train hard, believe, be confident and want to match every team and every player we meet. We're growing and we want to send out a message to the other teams: we're ready, we're confident, we want to win and take another big step forward and see Roma enjoying these Champions League nights for a long time.”
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