Roma-Lazio, De Rossi and the first derby as coach: “I’m calm, age helps. Renewal? Let’s think about the next two months”

«Age helps. Excited yes, but I’m calm.” A sphinx. Daniele De Rossi he lets nothing shine through in the conference on the eve of his first derby as Roma coach. As a seasoned tradesman, he must not let himself be carried away by emotions. Even though he was captain and flag in 31 derbies as a footballer. But he admitted it himself, maturity helps. «Honestly, as a coach he changes. Over the years I had become good at managing it on the pitch too. Beyond the role, I think it’s an advantage of age. I remember with pleasure that in the early days I suffered from it, I entered the pitch a little tense but then over the years I started playing them. I didn’t really play the first 3-4 derbies.”

De Rossi then shifted attention to the emotional state of his boys: «They are approaching it well, they are calm and working hard. We try to charge it to the right point, manage it without going too far so as not to waste energy too soon and not arrive on the pitch too full.” Special dictates? Not particularly, despite Roma not having won a derby since March 2022: «You have to prepare everything, knowing that it is a match that will have normal consequences, there is something different. We have a less than positive past in recent derbies. There is a desire for revenge, but without going further. There is a football match to prepare for and we have to stay clear.”

Memories as a footballer

«There are many memories – continues the Giallorossi coach -. Many fantastic nights, others less beautiful. If you play 20 years in one place you can’t expect only positive memories. Saturday will be my first as a coach and so I tend to think back to the first one I played, when Mancini scored a goal with his back heel. At the end of the game I thought I was the happiest man in the world, it was a beautiful emotion, I was a young boy. These are things you don’t forget but there was so much in between that bringing up just one episode is an understatement.”

At 18.00 on Saturday the field will speak. We need to find the goal again, after the draw in Lecce: «It was among the worst matches played and we still created some sensational opportunities. It can happen, just like with Sassuolo. There are no problems regarding our attackers, they are all fine apart from Azmoun. However, you don’t score goals with the attackers, with just one department, but with the whole team. Abraham? Let’s see the training and what the doctors’ directives will be. Let’s see if they let us call him up or he needs to train with the team again. With such long-term injuries, there are deadlines to meet, today we will understand.”

“My future? The next two months”

De Rossi then also wanted to talk about his future. The contract expires in June but no one from the owners has come forward in recent weeks. Silence and observation of the results. This is the direction imposed by the managers: «We have often spoken about the future of Roma, the short-term one – comments De Rossi -. The national team break helped us make ends meet and understand the future in the next two months, which is the most important thing.”