Kevin Strootman revelled in Roma’s ‘perfect’ performance against Barcelona and warned their rivals ‘we respect everyone but fear no-one.’
Strootman helped Roma come back from 4-1 down to beat Barca 3-0 and reach the Champions League semi-finals, and the midfielder expressed his pride at the Giallorossi pulling off the turnaround.
“It was a very special evening for all romanisti and many Italians,” he told Roma Radio.
Kevin Strootman revelled in Roma’s ‘perfect’ performance against Barcelona and warned their rivals ‘we respect everyone but fear no-one.’
Strootman helped Roma come back from 4-1 down to beat Barca 3-0 and reach the Champions League semi-finals, and the midfielder expressed his pride at the Giallorossi pulling off the turnaround.
“It was a very special evening for all romanisti and many Italians,” he told Roma Radio.
“I’ve seen that Serie A clubs have congratulated us too, and this is very nice. We battled and did everything to pick up an important result.
“We knew it would be difficult against a very good team, but we gave everything. I must also thank the fans for packing out the stadium.
“I saw the fans in the street, it was beautiful. When we started really believing? After the first goal. Dzeko’s goal gave us something more, we had the perfect match.
“We scored immediately and the third goal came near the end. We really believed after Edin’s goal.
“I saw everyone fight: from the kitmen to fans. Everyone wanted this result. Barcelona in the second half lost time.
“Barca wasting time? It was strange because I’ve seen so many of Barca’s games and they’ve never wasted time.
“They always want to play, but from the first minute of the game, they were already wasting time. We exploited their fear.
“The team that deserved it the most went into the semi-finals. After the 4-1 defeat away from home, it was difficult to go through, but we deserved something at Camp Nou.
“Semi-finals? Who we get isn’t important, all the semi-finalists will be strong. Now we have the objective of reaching the Final.
“After our matches in the League, we have to think about the Champions League. Our objective is Kiev: we’re in the semi-finals, but it’s not enough.
“The other teams will no longer celebrate [being drawn against us] at the time of the draw. If they want to play against us, they’re welcome to it.
“We respect everyone but fear no-one.”