Cristante ‘sad’ for Mourinho, but welcomes De Rossi ideas

Bryan Cristante admits he is ‘sad’ that Jose Mourinho was sacked, but acknowledges new coach Daniele De Rossi ‘brought his own ideas.’

The decision to dismiss Mourinho on January 16 shocked the Giallorossi supporters and many of their players too, especially as his contract was set to expire at the end of the season anyway.

“It is sad, because we created a good rapport with Mourinho over the last two and a half years, and we won silverware too,” Cristante told DAZN.

“This is what football is like, when things don’t go well, it is the coach that pays the price. Now we have De Rossi and we must give our all for him and for Roma.”

The change of management has been working so far, as De Rossi won both games in charge, beating Verona and Salernitana 2-1.

What has the former midfielder and club icon brought to the table?

“His ideas, how to move the ball around and some other things that he showed us. It was important to get two consecutive victories. We have opened up this new era, winning helps to win again.

“We are all working well and with time the results will show.”

The aim for Roma is to qualify for the Champions League, either by finishing in the top four in Serie A or winning the Europa League.

The table is a little confusing at the moment because so many teams have a game in hand due to the Supercoppa Italiana.

However, Roma are one point behind fourth-placed Atalanta right now.

“We are up there, we managed to stay afloat and can fight it out. We’ll see what happens,” concluded Cristante.