Spalletti bouyant ahead of Sampdoria clash

AS Roma coach Luciano Spalletti is feeling positive ahead of his team’s clash at home to Sampdoria on Wednesday.

Roma will move up to eighth in the Serie A table if they win this match at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, which was postponed back in October due to a waterlogged pitch.

The capital based team have finished second in each of the last three seasons but their title aspirations were over just 10 matches into this campaign after they won just two of those, losing six including their first five away games.

That left them hovering just above the relegation zone but they then embarked on a five-match winning run that propelled them back into Champions League contention.

Three points against their Genovese visitors will leave them just six points off fourth-placed Napoli in the final Champions League qualifying position.

And following their pulsating 2-2 draw at home to AC Milan on Sunday night, Spalletti believes his team have left their early season troubles firmly behind them.

“That was a great match and we did what we needed to do. We could have won at the end, as could have Milan,” he said.

“I think the supporters appreciated the attitude of our players. We did take some risks and left too many spaces at the back.

“But after a difficult period the team has proved they know how to play football while we’ve got some important players back from injury too.”

Club captain Francesco Totti is not yet among those although he did start running again on Monday following a muscular problem picked up against Catania on December 21, the last league match before the three-week winter break in Italy.

But in Totti’s place Montenegro forward Mirko Vucinic has been intermittently brilliant and scored twice in the Milan game.

“Vucinic can play on his own up front but also just behind the striker,” said Spalletti. “He’s a player I like very much.

“He did very well for his second goal (against Milan), pulling away to the left and finding the right position.”

Sampdoria, led by former Roma forward Antonio Cassano, have likewise had a difficult beginning to their campaign despite qualifying for the UEFA Cup last season.

However, victory would put them back in European contention as it would move them to just one point behind Roma and pull them away from the bottom three.

They currently sit in 14th position, five points above the drop zone and 12 points off the European qualification places.