Rain can´t dampen Roma spirit

Heavy rain had little effect on Roma’s Monday training session as they continued to prepare for their Champions League clash with Bayern Munich.

Claudio Ranieri’s team trained through the adverse conditions but appeared full of spirit ahead of Tuesday’s match at the Stadio Olimpico, in which they need three points if they are to be chance of topping the group.

Last season’s Serie A runners-up struggled in the early part of the season, but are now on a run in which they have lost just one of their last nine matches in all competitions.

Roma sit second in Group E and six points behind Bayern, but will be wary that a defeat could send either FC Basel or CFR Cluj – both on three points – ahead of them.

It is why Ranieri is demanding excellence from his side.

“I don’t expect a competitor who gives up, I expect a competitor with a lot of victories,” Ranieri told reporters on Monday.

“The team is to be respected, they haven’t found continuity in the national championship but they certainly have in the Champions League. We have won against Basel but we still need four points, so we need to play the match to win.”

Ranieri is expecting a difficult task, and heaped praise on opposing manager Louis Van Gaal.

“He has a very organised game, great ball possession and having coached great teams such as Barcelona and now Bayern, he has had great champions. So you can see his hand in his work, he is very serious, prepared and determined so we should have a great match,” he said.

French winger Jeremy Menez has been one of the reasons for Roma’s dramatic up-turn in form and bagged a crucial goal in Ranieri’s side’s 2-0 win over Udinese on Saturday, lifting his side to fifth on the Serie A table in the process.

But the 23-year-old is not getting ahead of himself, insisting he still has work to do on his game.

“I still need to mature,” Menez said.

“I’m not a child but I am still young so I still have room to grow in the soccer world and in life. With this team and this coach, this is what I am working on.”