"The enthusiasm is going to make us take that extra step"

Roma midfielder Lorenzo Pellegrini acknowledged, on the eve of the Europa League final against Sevilla, that his team have come "a very long and complicated journey to get here" to Wednesday's game in Budapest, but they are clear that they have "deserved to be in the final", which gives them "extra excitement".

Speaking at the official pre-final press conference at the Puskas Arena in the Hungarian capital, the skilful midfielder, who won last season's inaugural Conference League in Tirana, stressed on Tuesday that they go into the Europa League title decider "focused and very convinced", but also "a little nervous because it's a final".

"Getting this far has involved a series of big sacrifices, but that enthusiasm is going to make us take that extra step," said Pellegrini, who was optimistic about the involvement in the match against Sevilla of his Argentine team-mate Paulo Dybala, Roma's star striker who is fresh from injury.

"He has come with the team, he is already fit. We've seen him on the pitch and we hope he can help us," he said.

The 26-year-old Roma player stressed that they have worked in the days leading up to the final "as one prepares for a final" and that now "we have to go out and play it as well as possible in terms of desire and ambition both technically and tactically, it is a different game" to the ones they have been playing, so they need "a lot of factors to come together so that, in the end, Roma come out on top".

 

May 31, 2023