You say Daniele De Rossi and you say Naples And Female Rome and you immediately think of the past: when he played at the then San Paolo and was one of the most booed and when he inaugurated the Roma women’s team, in 2018, in Piazza di Spagna. Six years later everything has changed: the players are in their second consecutive championship, he no longer plays but coaches. And with excellent results. Tomorrow he returns to Naples for the first time, as a coach, and the memory also goes back to the many matches in which he was on the pitch and not on the bench. But first the news: N’Dicka is not only called up, but he is well and will play. De Rossi himself says this to the club’s media: “He is not afraid of tackling, he trains normally and in words he told me he has no problems. He and Mancio will have Osimhen in front of them, one of the strongest in the world. It won’t be easy, Napoli are no longer as unplayable as last year, but they are a tough opponent“. The mind then goes back a little: “When I left Roma I said that I would miss our fans and also our opponents. In Naples there was sports hatred, they made me feel important and I know that tomorrow a warm environment awaits us“. From the past to the future, De Rossi congratulates the Roma women, Italian champions for the second time, and admits: “Well done, very good, all very good. We look at them with admiration, a pinch of envy and we hope to emulate them soon. We also want to win something important”.
De Rossi before Napoli-Roma, all his words
Of course, the difficult calendar doesn’t help, but Daniele doesn’t hide: “It doesn’t help us, it’s true. But I started here three months ago and if they had told me: you are fifth, four points behind Atalanta and six behind Lazio I would have signed up, we have rekindled the race, it is no longer a dream but something real. We certainly have a difficult calendar which is not easy at all, but our opponents have also suffered a bit at times even against the lower ranking teams, it can happen at the end of the championship. So let’s see what happens“. In this month, to be experienced in one breath, tomorrow Roma plays in Naples which is not even distantly related to last year, but is an opponent not to be underestimated: “We haven’t done anything, we may have put things back in order, but we don’t want to feel relaxed. Ours is a very difficult goal to reach, tomorrow we want to take another step in that direction”. On Napoli, De Rossi explains: “The biggest difficulty at the moment is preparing so many close matches, having a few days to prepare them and having strong opponents like Napoli in this case, like Bologne and Udinese, and all the upcoming ones. Fresh forces would be needed, but in most cases the others also have many commitments. Let’s not feel sorry for ourselves, it’s a match that will be very difficult because we are facing perhaps the only team that is close to Inter in terms of level of players. Last year they were unplayable, this year they had some difficulties but we are going to face a tough team“.
De Rossi and the Azmoun-Abraham couple
Possible, with Lukaku stayed at home, like Smalling, see again Azmoun and Abraham Together? He doesn’t go too far: “It was an interesting experiment, even if we think about the fact that we have another striker of the same structure like Lukaku. I also did the same experiment in Frosinone and it didn’t go very well in my opinion, also because of me. We hadn’t prepared this couple well. It’s something that can be repeated in moments when you want to score and want to bring presence and centimeters into the area. We can also start like this from the beginning, as long as there is a different organization that can support these two attackers. You don’t experience it very much. In the future we must be ready to have this solution with some more tactical notions“.
De Rossi and compliments to the Roma women
Finally, sincere, and not superficial, compliments for the Roma women: “There is great pride and even a hint of envy. I spoke last night with Spugna and Bavagnoli, we are very proud of them. If you make me remember that staircase that Elisa Bartoli and I went down together, I’m happy for them. The first day they were a little intimidated by us, everything was new for them. Now they owe it to them to put us at ease because they are the true champions who bring glory here in Rome. We are happy for them, we can’t wait to match them by doing something important for the team. Women’s football is growing a lot, even the youngest players are of absolute value. It is an important movement for men’s football too. I often meet Elena Linari and we talk, they are girls as crazy about football as the players. It is right that they have their space of recognition and their honor as in these cases when you win“.
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