Daniele De Rossi knows that Roma have their work cut out for them heading into Thursday’s Europa League semi-final second leg against the unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen, but he believes that his side’s fortunes could change if they apply the same work ethic as they did in the first leg, despite coming away with a 2-0 defeat.
Roma and Leverkusen will do battle at the Stadio Olimpico for a spot in the final on Thursday night, kicking off at 20.00 BST.
De Rossi pre-match assessment
De Rossi sat down for his customary pre-match press conference on Wednesday evening, where he discussed a number of topics, including the possible inclusion of star attacker, Paulo Dybala.
Though Roma have a massive game against Atalanta in Serie A at the weekend, De Rossi confirmed that Roma will go full strength against Leverkusen on Thursday.
“Nobody will be rested for our trip to Bergamo,” he said. “The assessments I make will be done with the players and the club doctor, but they will not be made in view of the Bergamo trip. We have to carefully evaluate how everyone is doing, how the clothes are.
“This match is important for us and we can’t underestimate the task. I want to have a good talk with (Dybala), with the doctor, because I want to understand the full situation.
Bayer Leverkusen have recently made information available to their supporters regarding information surrounding the Europa League final, even though they still have the second match of their Europa League semi-final to play.
In response, De Rossi said: “these are mistakes not made by the coaching staff or by the players. That is somebody else’s responsibility, the ticket office or whoever manages those things over there. I think that the Leverkusen team and staff are concentrated on our match and there is feeling that they will roll over.
“We’ve all seen it, we’ve commented on it, but it doesn’t bother us, we don’t need any more motivation.”
The coach was also asked what he made of comments made about Roma by his Atalanta counterpart, Gian Piero Gasperini, who conducted his Europa League press conference earlier on Wednesday.
“I was expecting this question, but we’ll talk about it before the Atalanta match. Let’s focus on this game for now. These things have little to do with football and more to do with human value. But we’ll talk about it later.”
What Roma need to do to overturn Leverkusen
“We have to apply ourselves in the hunt for goals. When we didn’t do it last time, it was because (Leverkusen) were too good. We pressed well, we created some chances. Even when the mood and the atmosphere dropped, we tried until the end.
“We know the result is difficult, it is difficult because they haven’t lost all season but we have to believe in it and try until the end, like we did in the first leg.
“We know it will be hard to come home with the result, but doing so is why we’re here in the first place.”