De Rossi demands more from ´tired´ Roma ahead of crunch run

Daniele De Rossi acknowledged his Roma team may be tired, but he insisted they must not allow themselves to be embarrassed.

Roma fought back to draw 2-2 with last season’s Serie A champions Napoli in a pulsating fixture on Sunday.

Tammy Abraham’s late header secured a point for De Rossi’s team, who took the lead through Paulo Dybala’s penalty before going behind to goals from Matias Olivera and Victor Osimhen.

With Serie A set to have five teams in the Champions League next season, Roma occupy fifth spot with four matches remaining, but sixth-placed Atalanta are just two points behind with a game in hand.

12 – Paulo #Dybala has been involved in the joint-most goals in 2024 in Serie A: 12 (9 goals and 3 assists), level with Dusan Vlahovic (10+2). Joya.#NapoliRoma #SerieA pic.twitter.com/Cj6yS8dIWs

— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) April 28, 2024

There is also the small matter of a Europa League semi-final against Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen on the cards over the coming weeks, and De Rossi set the stall out.

“We drew, it is not a result to throw away, but it is not the result or the performance that we wanted,” Roma coach Daniele De Rossi told Sky Sports Italia.

“At times you can steal the ball off Napoli, but we then gave it back again too many times. Napoli had a lot of chances in the first half, we did better in the second, but we have to do better.

“Look, we are tired, but we cannot start thinking that we’re tired and that means we can be embarrassed in the final few weeks of the season.”

Roma host Leverkusen on Thursday before taking on Juventus on May 5, with a crunch clash against Atalanta – who are also into the Europa League semi-finals – set to follow after the away leg against Xabi Alonso’s team.

Key to a successful end to the campaign for Roma will be keeping Dybala fit. The Argentine has been involved in the joint-most goals (12) in Serie A since the turn of the year, scoring nine and setting up three, level with Juve’s Dusan Vlahovic.