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This is what the boss had to say.
What does a performance like tonight's do for the team's belief, considering how recent matches against Inter have gone? You gave them a real run for their money tonight. At the very least you were on the same level as them.
“I agree. I think it was a game that could have gone either way at one point. We changed a bit after they pulled one back at the start of the second half. We gave Inter renewed energy. They're a great team who can score goals at any moment but we never battened down the hatches. We had chances to score more ourselves. We come away from this match with a positive feeling and greater belief.”
Belief that you're closing the gap. What room for improvement does Roma have compared to Inter?
“Everyone has room for improvement – and that goes for Inter too. We can be pleased with what we're doing, with the results we're achieving, and with the quality we've shown in our games – besides our fitness levels, our enthusiasm, and our desire. This team has so much positive energy. We have to carry on like this.”
Is your team becoming tough physically?
“In the first half we certainly were. We found a lot of space and whenever we broke forward we looked dangerous. That goal early in the second half invigorated them and knocked us back a bit. I had to switch things around at the back due to fatigue. [Leonardo] Balerdi had to come off and that's a shame but it meant [Paulo] Dybala and [Matias] Soule made it till the end. We got the feeling that if we could withstand their attacks, the game would always be open and we should be happy with that.”
What's Roma's message to the rest of the league after this performance?
“We must keep focusing on ourselves. We have to remember that in certain conditions we're a really good, dangerous team, from a physical perspective too. We need to perform consistently and we'll have lots of matches after the break. We'll have to make good use of our squad and develop all our players because we have a really testing run of fixtures after the break.”
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