Roma coach Paulo Fonseca confirms Edin Dzeko will be “ready to play” against Inter as he calls it an “honour” to fill a role first offered to Antonio Conte.
Dzeko was considered a doubt for the big game through illness, but Fonseca confirmed his No 9 had turned up to training as normal.
“Dzeko has trained with us and is ready to play,” he said at a press conference.
“I need to say that I won’t discuss the team today as I will pick my starting XI tomorrow.
Roma coach Paulo Fonseca confirms Edin Dzeko will be “ready to play” against Inter as he calls it an “honour” to fill a role first offered to Antonio Conte.
Dzeko was considered a doubt for the big game through illness, but Fonseca confirmed his No 9 had turned up to training as normal.
“Dzeko has trained with us and is ready to play,” he said at a press conference.
“I need to say that I won’t discuss the team today as I will pick my starting XI tomorrow.
“Conte is a great coach, very good. Inter are in a great run of, they’ve got a very elaborate way of playing, with lots of character. They are in a good moment and it will be a very difficult game.
“Inter are very strong in every phase of the game. They start by building with three at the back, but they have a very interesting dynamic.
“We have played a lot against a back three, it’s not a new thing for us.”
Conte was the Giallorossi’s first choice before they turned to the Portuguese, so how does he feel about that?
“I don’t talk about the past. For me, it’s an honour if they first spoke to Conte and today, I’m here.
“We have to be courageous. We have prepared for this match with great attention to the two Inter strikers, who are very strong.
“But, if we can be rigid at the back and show courage, we have prepared some situations that may create problems for Inter.”
He also gave updates on Diego Perotti, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Justin Kluivert, while confirming Davide Santon was in contention to play his third game in a week.
“Both of them [Perotti and Mkhitaryan] are in good condition. They are ready to play tomorrow. Kluivert has been through some tests, but they came back negative. He is annoyed that about not being able to play.
“Santon is doing very well. He has performed well during two matches, but we also have [Leonardo] Spinazzola and [Alessandro] Florenzi in that role. I will choose one of them.”
With Inter-Roma on Friday and Lazio-Juventus on Saturday, the two teams from Rome have the possibility to reduce the gap on the top two.
The Lupi are currently nine points off the top, whereas their city rivals are third with a seven-point gap on the pace-setting Nerazzurri.
“I only see the chance to play against a very strong team. The most important thing is our game against Inter. I don’t care about what happens in the other game.”