Former AS Roma defender Vincent Candela named ‘team unity’ as one of the secret ingredients needed to win the Scudetto when he was hosted on Roma Radio earlier today.
The retired left-back, who knows a thing or two about winning trophies having lifted the World Cup and European Championships with France and the Scudetto with Roma, also said that the current Giallorossi side might need some time to bed in but he believes Rudi Garcia is in the process of building a great Roma team.
The Frenchman began by sharing his thoughts on last Sunday’s opening-day draw at Verona. “It would have been better to start the season with a win of course. I think the team needs a bit more time to bed in and sort out a few things but the coach and his backroom team are working on that day in day out and I’m sure they’ll build a great Roma side. The quality is there, you just need everyone focused on the target of winning. It sounds straight forward but you need to work on it every day.”
There have been plenty of comings and goings at Roma this summer and Candela identified where he would look to make even further improvement: “I think they could strengthen the defense a little but they look well set in midfield and up front.”
Roma are widely considered to be among the Scudetto contenders this year and Candela is hoping to see a more open title race this season. Asked if he thought the two Milan clubs would be involved, he said: “I hope they’ll be challenging for the Scudetto again for the good of Italian football. If Inter and Milan get back to the level they used to be, it will make the whole league more interesting.”
And on the subject of winning the Scudetto, the 2001 winner took a few moments to reflect on his own team’s triumph: “I watched that Verona v Roma match when we won the Scudetto again recently. We were a really close-knit group, with guys like Batistuta, Cafu, Samuel, Tommasi and the captain who were all aware of how good they were. There was this incredible team unity too – even the guys on the bench played a key role. All of that is crucial if you want to be successful.”
Rudi Garcia has recently called for complete unity between the team and the fans and Vincent observed: “It’s crucial you have that but it takes time and lots of hard work to prove to everyone what you can do. You might get the odd bit of booing but in the long run, if you play your heart out and show how much you care about the shirt, the fans pick up on that and appreciate it.”
Finally, with the Champions League group stage draw set to take place this Thursday, the World Cup winner was asked who he fancies to win the competition this year. “The favorites will be the usual suspects again because nothing happens by chance: Barcelona, Real Madrid and I’m curious to see how Pep Guardiola’s Bayern do. I hope Roma can go a long way too. Making it to the semis would be a great achievement.”
source asroma.it