Roma CEO Umberto Gandini admits it’ll be strange facing his old club Milan. “It’s the biggest game of the round, if not the year.”
It kicks off on Monday at 20.00 GMT, click here for a match preview.
The Giallorossi have Kevin Strootman available against Milan and Juventus after his two-match ban for simulation was revoked on appeal.
Roma CEO Umberto Gandini admits it’ll be strange facing his old club Milan. “It’s the biggest game of the round, if not the year.”
It kicks off on Monday at 20.00 GMT, click here for a match preview.
The Giallorossi have Kevin Strootman available against Milan and Juventus after his two-match ban for simulation was revoked on appeal.
“Yesterday was an important day and we simply had reaffirmed that we were absolutely right to appeal against a use of video evidence that was unjust and incorrect,” the CEO told Roma Radio.
“We are glad to face these two games with all our players available and that gives us an extra boost. The club is very well-organised, cohesive and I speak to Mauro Baldissoni every day.
“I can say this is my first game against Milan. It’s certainly very interesting, obviously nobody can think in a minute I can cancel out 23 years of work with a club that gave me everything and allowed me to reach this new challenge with Roma. I have sentiments of gratitude to the club.
“It’s also a very important match. Milan are doing very well with an ex-Roma Coach like Vincenzo Montella and it’s pleasing that this is the biggest game of the round, if not the year.
“Roma and Milan are fighting it out for the albeit ephemeral title of main challengers for Juventus. It’s a match rich with positive tension.
“I expect an open game, as both sides have the counter-attack as one of their greatest strengths. As the hosts, Roma will most likely have to take the initiative, but the good thing is we can both fight it out in a very big match.
“We have lately shown that we can play football in many different ways. Against Lazio it wasn’t the most beautiful performance, but in the second half we acted like a big team, in that we got the result by pouncing on opposition mistakes. That too is an essential part of the sport.
“Naturally we are playing to win, but only one team can win the trophy and the other 19 are not failures, so our objective is to be as competitive as possible and in that sense I hope we continue along this path.
“This is already an important club on the Italian and European scene, but we can do even more as representatives of the city of Rome. The main issue is to get consistent results and bring that confidence in ourselves.
“We are also trying to improve the general system of football in Italy, as represented by the problems getting the stadium worked out. We all need to think about it as a system and not so much individual clubs. It’s already a big boost that the Champions League is changed to ensure four Serie A participants, because there are too many big clubs to be left out of Europe.
“One of our main aims as Roma is to get Italian football back to where it was and a destination rather than a stepping stone towards other Leagues.”
Gandini won practically every trophy available during his 23 years at Milan, but how did he feel seeing over 4,000 passionate Roma fans at training the day after their Derby della Capitale win over Lazio?
“It was a great moment and the result was more important than just three points for Roma and Romanisti. The fans want to be with the team and vice versa, so we are trying to get across how much we want them by our side with spectacular shows on our travels, but above all on home turf.”