De Rossi recounts Roma exit: “I had issues with Souloukou.” | OneFootball

Daniele De Rossi, former Roma captain and current Genoa manager, gave a lengthy interview to DAZN, discussing his past, his coaching experience, and future challenges, with a special focus on his match against Roma.

De Rossi spoke about his coaching experience, starting with his decision to stay away from football for a while. “I got fired very early! This is the solution! Jokes aside, it’s difficult to balance football interests with those outside of it, but my family has given me the right balance,” he said.

When asked if he had turned down offers from other teams, he replied: “I didn’t turn down anything; it was others who turned me down. I turned down situations where I didn’t see things clearly. In my first two experiences, I had problems with the management. I cleared things up with those at SPAL and I’m still talking to them. I also had problems with the CEO in Rome; nothing major, but problems nonetheless… It can happen, but I don’t want it to happen again. I don’t want the impression to be given that I’m someone who has problems with management.”

Speaking of his coaching experience with Roma, De Rossi admitted that it was a period of great emotion and sacrifice: “Seeing Roma now makes me happy, because what I predicted is coming true: in the third year, we’ll be able to fight for the Scudetto.”

However, it wasn’t easy. “If I had betrayed myself, I wouldn’t have been proud of what we achieved, even if we didn’t win anything. You take it badly because every time you get fired, and it happened to me twice, you stop experiencing the things you love. I don’t think I felt more pain when I was fired at Roma than when it happened at Spal. It’s just as painful. When I was fired, it wasn’t easy, especially because the thing I miss most is working with those guys and no longer being able to share my time with them.”

The match against Roma, scheduled for December 29th, will have a special meaning for De Rossi: “It’s a special feeling. As a child, as a player, and now as a coach, I’ll experience it differently, but the important thing is that I continue to want the best for Roma. For a week, however, I’ll have to work to make Roma lose,” he joked.

Regarding his playing career and his decision to retire, De Rossi said: “When they told me they wouldn’t renew my contract, I was prepared. I never wanted to get to a point where I was dragged onto the pitch against my dignity.”

Despite the pain of retirement, he tried to face it calmly: “I don’t want to suffer under the Sud. I’ve always been a significant part of Roma’s history and of Italian football. I represent a significant part of Roma’s history and of Italian football. In the end, what difference does one year more or one year less make? But my serenity was also dictated by the fact that I was prepared; and I was because I had seen the final part of Francesco Totti’s career. He was devastated, I spoke to him a thousand times and told myself: ‘I don’t want to feel this bad.’ It wasn’t easy, but I wanted to prepare. Quitting was a blow for me too; I stopped playing, and after two months, Covid arrived: I stopped playing, going out, seeing people… For a moment I said: ‘What’s happening? If you do this, I’ll start again!'”