Daniel De Rossi confirmed Paulo Dybala is fit, but Romelu Lukaku is likely to miss Roma’s Europa League match with Brighton this evening. The Giallorossi travel to England with a healthy 4-0 lead from the first-leg in Rome, but could be without some key players. Speaking ahead of the match, De Rossi gave an update on the status of his squad, confirming that Dybala is well enough to train:
“Paulo is fine. He’s training with the other players. Lukaku has a hip problem that’s been bothering him for a while, maybe even months or years. Every now and then, it flares up again and when it does, the way to manage it is through rest,” De Rossi said in his pre-match press conference.
“Don’t ask me how much rest. I don’t know, but enough that he couldn’t be here. Over the past few days, he’s been telling me he wouldn’t make it.”
“Whichever line-up we choose, our job and the love and pride we have for this profession force us to go and play a good match, more so when we’re missing two of our most-used players.”
“I want to show that whether they’re there or not, it doesn’t make a difference for us. I’d love to start to change this idea that we can’t play football without Dybala and Lukaku.”
“I think we’ve got some great players in this team, and we can play without them too. I’m still to decide whether Paulo will play tomorrow or not. I’m happy with the players I’ve got available today.”
