De Rossi: Champions League a must for Roma

Daniele De Rossi believes a Champions League place must be the target for Roma after their 1-0 win over Genoa on Monday.

Roma remain sixth in the Serie A standings in spite of their victory in the Italian capital, but they are now just four points behind third-placed Lazio.

With Udinese, Napoli and Inter all just as desperate to secure Champions League football next season, De Rossi acknowledges that Roma face an onerous challenge, but feels Roma are capable of securing a place in Europe’s premier cup competition.

“It will be difficulty but we must try,” De Rossi told Mediaset. “We have to improve many things, but the league is like this.”

“Nobody is winning with a cigarette in their mouth. Aside from Juventus and AC Milan, nobody is convincing.”

“We are afraid of all of our rivals because they are great teams and, for now, Lazio are favourites because they are above everyone else.”

“But it’s been a positive couple of weeks for us and there are a lot of games left to go.”

De Rossi is thrilled Roma have put themselves in contention to finish third after what has been a less than smooth transition to life under new coach Luis Enrique.

“We are now rearing out heads after a difficult start,” De Rossi told Sky Sport Italia. “We are on a difficult journey which has had its ups and downs.”

“But I am confident for the future because no one has ever questioned this group and this project.”

“Our ranking is clear, but I think that this team has the quality to be higher up and we will commit ourselves right until the end to climb a few positions.”

Roma travel to the San Siro on Saturday to take on reigning Italian champions AC Milan.