Daniele De Rossi has given his first interview since being appointed as head coach of Roma.
The former Giallorossi stalwart replaced Jose Mourinho on Tuesday, almost immediately after the Special One’s dismissal.
De Rossi has been handed a contract until the end of the 2023-24 season. This will be his second coaching job in charge of a professional side, following a brief spell in charge of SPAL in Serie B in 2022-23.
De Rossi has since taken charge of his first training sessions at Trigoria, and will officially take charge of Roma for the first time with the visit from Hellas Verona in Serie A on Saturday.
“I’m astonished, because I was struggling to remember the roads, roundabouts and places that I saw every day for 18 years,” De Rossi told Roma’s club media channels.
“It’s emotional because I’m seeing so many places and importantly, lots of faces that I have who have been with me for a huge and wonderful part of my life.
“I’m also aware that there’s an important job to do and we can’t be here just looking around at how things have changed.”
When asked how he reacted to the offer to become head coach of his beloved Roma, De Rossi replied: “I was surprised and excited. In that moment you realise it’s actually happening. I knew it was a possibility, so it wasn’t completely out of the blue.
“I said I was happy to meet them, to talk and share ideas, but it took no more than 10 minutes.”
De Rossi was also asked whether he was feeling confident, given that he has signed a six-month deal without any long-term assurances.
He responded: “I am convinced that the team and I don’t need any parachutes. This is a strong squad with some very important players.
“Even the best teams go through difficult periods. It happened in the past and it will happen in the future, and it could happen to other teams as well, so we need to be ready to take advantage of that.”
On his time off since leaving SPAL last season, De Rossi said: “I haven’t coached in a while, but they say it is like riding a bike. Even though I only coached for a few months, it was simple enough.
“We didn’t have much time to prepare, but now I’m here for the interview,” he laughed. “Before then, I had to sign all the various contracts, so it was more a bureaucratic thing than technical.
“Tomorrow, we’ll start doing some more interesting things, and we will prepare for it tonight.”