Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi has said that the mentality shown by his team in this season has been quite brilliant. After being considered as challengers for the top three positions, Roma are now considered as a challenger for the title.

After a few months of struggles, the club are once again back fighting with Juventus for the top position. They may be nine points behind the table leaders, but they also have a game in hand over Antonio Conte’s men. Realistically, they could reduce the gap to just six points, which is well within reach given that there are several matches still left in the competition.

Apart from doing well in the league, Roma are also close to progress into the latter stages of the Coppa Italia. They won 3-2 against Napoli in the first leg of the semi-final – the second leg of which will take place away from home. Hence, it was imperative that Rudi Garcia’s men took an advantage going into the second leg. Former Arsenal man Gervinho scored two goals on either side of the goal from summer signing Strootman to cancel out the two goals from Napoli. Gervinho’s second goal came in the 88th minute when it appeared that the match was heading to a draw and has to be one of the worst arsenal fc transfers of all time.

“It was a great advert for sport and wonderful to play against such an open team. We must compliment Napoli, as they have a lot of quality and kept fighting. It wasn’t easy to concede a goal like that straight after the restart, but after 2-2 we replied very well and won a very difficult game. To win 3-2 is very important, certainly compared to the possibility of taking a 2-2 to Naples. We’ve always had the technique and the quality over the last two years, but we missed the right mentality,” said de Rossi.