Coach Paulo Fonseca faced the media on Saturday afternoon to preview the weekend’s Derby della Capitale.
Sunday’s game at the Stadio Olimpico gets underway at 18:00 local time.
Here’s everything the boss had to say ahead of the contest…
What did it mean to the team to have the fans cheering them all inside Trigoria today?
“It’s wonderful to see our fans showing us their support as they did today. It makes me really happy and it means so much to us. Our fans have always been there behind us. We must play well and pull out all the stops for them because they deserve it.”
How are the players shaping up? Will you be able to get a few of them fit for the derby?
“[Diego] Perotti and [Javier] Pastore aren’t fit enough to start the game but they’ll be on the bench, which is good news for us. The lads are fine – they’re motivated and confident. We have every chance of producing a fine performance tomorrow.”
Who will play in defence? Are you considering playing a back three?
“We’ll play with four at the back. We’ll see who will start.”
How is Justin Kluivert?
“Kluivert had only been training a few days after coming back from injury and then he played 90 minutes. He was very tired but played against Juventus because we didn’t have any other options with Perotti and [Nicolo] Zaniolo injured. I’ve spoken to him and he told me he was very tired against Juventus. This week he’s been able to recover and I think we’ll see a different Kluivert tomorrow to the one that played against Juventus.”
