Rudi Garcia was full of praise for his players after Roma secured a 2-1 win over Lazio to wrap up second place in Serie A and ensure the Giallorossi will be playing Champions League football next season. “The church is still at the center of the village and we must make sure that’s where it remains,” the Giallorossi boss declared to the media after the final whistle.
Your players produced a solid performance today.
“They did really well out there and got their approach spot on. They deserve credit because this was no easy match and we’ve managed to achieve what we set out to do. We wanted to win and we did. It’s a fantastic achievement and now we can celebrate with our fans. It’s great that our last game doesn’t matter because we’ve already qualified for the Champions League and are sure of finishing second.”
Pioli commented on some of the things you said in your pre-match press conference yesterday.
“It’s all part of the show, it was just pre-match mind games. I’d like to congratulate Pioli though. He’s an excellent coach and whether they end up third or fourth Lazio have had a great season.”
What’s going to happen next season now?
“This is not the time to start weighing things up; we should just be thinking about celebrating. There will be time to look back on what has happened this season and I’ll do that. Today we’ve shown that we deserve to be in the Champions League and although Lazio are good we are better – and not just in Rome. We’re the second-best team in Italy behind Juventus, who are too far ahead at the moment.”
Iturbe got the all-important first goal that opened up the match.
“He’s always done well for us and I’m delighted for him because this is just the confidence boost he needed. His future is here at Roma. He’s young and he’s learning. He answered his critics on the pitch today, and it’s what he does on the field that matters.”
What tactics did you employ to win this game?
“We planned to get at them right from the off and by and large we managed to do that by pressing them high up the field. After the first 15 minutes our aim was to defend deep and exploit the space in behind their backline, because we knew that even with an extra day to recover they would wane as the game wore on after going to extra time in the cup. As I told my players during the break, sooner or later we were going to come to the fore and to do that we needed to play a quality passing game. I’m also pleased with the fact that we scored from a set piece because we’d been working on them for weeks.”
What did you make of Totti’s performance?
“After the first quarter of an hour, Lazio starting harrying Francesco and our other players like crazy, but we expected that. With Ibarbo and Manuel in the middle we were able to use our pace to good effect because speed is not their strongest asset through the middle.”
Is the church still at the center of the village?
“Yes, it’s still there and we must make sure that’s where it remains.”