Tammy Abraham admits it was ‘a long nine months’ building up to his Roma derby comeback and says Daniele De Rossi ‘knows how to bring the best out of us.’
The England international had not set foot on the pitch since suffering a serious knee ligament injury in the final Serie A game of the 2022-23 season against Spezia on June 4.
He had surgery, saw coach Jose Mourinho sacked to make way for Daniele De Rossi, and today received his very special comeback during the Derby della Capitale.
The Giallorossi emerged 1-0 winners with a header from Gianluca Mancini and Abraham was able to come on for the final few minutes, along with Chris Smalling, then join in the celebrations under the Curva Sud.
“For me and the team it’s a very special day. The derby is always the game you look forward to, it has given us confidence,” Abraham told DAZN.
“We have another important game coming up which we’re excited for, so we have to take this belief into the next game.”
That match is the first leg of the Europa League quarter-final against Milan, which will be played at San Siro on Thursday evening.
After the match, De Rossi revealed that Abraham had been saying “I can’t wait” from the moment he took charge of the squad, so it was finally his opportunity.
“Coming onto the pitch you can hear the fans, you have this feeling inside you that you cannot explain. It was a long nine months, I am so excited to be back.
“I just need to help the team as much as possible, this is an important stage of the season. We have to carry on, fight, I had to help in defence today and that’s what I’ll do for the team.”
De Rossi is a very different character to Mourinho and above all is a former player who lived and breathed Roma from the moment he was born.
“He’s very emotional! Before the game you can hear in his voice what this means to him. He’s still a player deep down inside and that is very important for us, we need someone who knows how to bring the best out of us and he does this so well.
“We’re happy to have him and always just want to do so well for him.”
To finish the interview, Abraham said a few words in Italian saying he was happy with the victory, although it made him sweat more than on the pitch.
💪 @tammyabraham 💛❤️#RomaLazio pic.twitter.com/n0jo414Pig
— AS Roma (@OfficialASRoma) April 6, 2024