Roma boss Daniele De Rossi says he has the utmost respect for Max Allegri, ahead of their match at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday. A victory for the Bianconeri would secure them Champions League football, while a Roma win would put them within touching distance of securing a spot in the same competition. Speaking ahead of the match, De Rossi explained why Allegri is such an important figure to him, while also touching on their Europa League defeat to Bayer Leverkusen mid-week:
“Today, we should analyze to evaluate the physical condition of the players because we have had some little problems. When you play on Thursday and Sunday, it is difficult to prepare for the matches, but now this is a prepared team. We must be ready to play great matches because we have little time to prepare them. The first day is always a day where the emotional side makes the difference because even defeat causes extra pain.”
De Rossi then continued to speak about Allegri: “Allegri is faced with great respect because he is a coach who has made history in Italian football. I feel sympathy for him because he played with my father. I don’t believe in the dichotomy between results-oriented and playing-oriented approaches because it would be disrespectful. We face Juventus like all other teams, with quite a bit of preparation and knowledge. It is a team that has had a not very positive period and has alternated good matches with others where it has struggled. We are convinced that we can do it also because we play at home, and we need the fans to push us until the end.”
“I don’t yet know how the guys are, today we will have a not too heavy training session. Tomorrow morning, we will take half an hour to do a finishing session that we usually don’t do, and so I will announce the lineup at that moment. Dybala is doing very well, he is sad about the defeat but is having important performances, and that is what is surprising me the most from a physical point of view. As long as he’s standing, I’ll let him play because he can create a goal at any moment.”
Then, regarding the match against Leverkusen: “Nothing is compromised. Next Thursday will be even more difficult because we have to beat a team that has never lost. We know they are a very tough team, but we can achieve something remarkable. Watching the first leg, even playing in the same way with the episodes reversed, a different scenario would have unfolded. It’s a dream for us and our fans, we know how much it means to them. Obviously, we have to manage our strength and make choices, but we absolutely won’t give up on either of the two objectives.”
“The result guides and clouds everything. After the away win against Milan, I was hailed as a genius simply for moving El Shaarawy to the right, but many don’t understand much about technique and tactics. Football is like this: it’s all about the result, and its strength drives people to write or say wrong things. Bayer is a very strong team, but I think for the first half-hour I saw my team better. Until the end, we tried to play to score goals, and I am proud of my players.”
Finally, on the comparison with the Germans: “Leverkusen is a team to be taken as a model. It is a team that had never won anything in Germany, that has worked in the right direction. I also speak of characteristics, which may be things I will ask for in June, although the team I have allows us to go all the way. I have to respect the squad I have.”
