Claudio Ranieri celebrates fifth Rome derby win: “We are a real team now.” | OneFootball

Roma manager Claudio Ranieri was able to celebrate the fifth Rome derby victory of his career earlier tonight as Roma smashed Lazio 2-0.

The Italian technician discussed his choice to start Lorenzo Pellegrini in his post-match interview with DAZN.

“Yesterday he came to talk to me and made me understand that he was really keen to be Roma’s captain in the derby. He wanted to play at all costs,” he said.

“I was waiting for nothing else. After Milan I told him that he hadn’t come in well. I was convinced that today he would have played a great game, he has goals in his blood and he is one of the best Italian midfielders in this respect.”

“He didn’t ask me to play – he simply conveyed to me the fact that he had gotten mentally exactly where I wanted him.”

“Now we are a real team, everyone knows what they have to do. We have to continue like this. The first half of the season wasn’t great and now we have to show that we are here, that we have gotten it out of our system. Now we have to show a bit of sunshine.”

“I expect a great match in Bologna, it would be terrible not to repeat today’s performance. The result is the result of many episodes, but we have to fight like we did today.”

“My future? I am available to stay here until the end of the year, then God will see.”

“I don’t have any secrets. I just try to make the lads happier and have them give their all on the pitch,” he added.

“They always call me in problematic situations so I put on my helmet and start working, trying to instill serenity and desire to do. It seemed logical to put world champions in the team… I tried to restore confidence and self-esteem, the quality of this team is very high but it needs to be sprinkled with the desire to get the win.”