De Rossi explains new Roma attack to unlock Juventus

Daniele De Rossi explains why he has changed tactics against Juventus and calls on Roma fans to help ‘fire us up’ when energy starts to flag.

It kicks off at the Stadio Olimpico at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT).

You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens from today’s five Serie A games on the LIVEBLOG.

The Giallorossi are still smarting after Thursday’s traumatic 2-0 home defeat in the Europa League semi-final to Bayer Leverkusen, and have no time to rotate the squad ahead of the second leg next week.

This clash is too important for a place in the top five, which would guarantee their Champions League qualification for next season.

“We are fortunate these are two different tournaments, two journeys we can approach in different ways and they are not connected. The defeat to Leverkusen has no effect on our Serie A process,” De Rossi told DAZN.

“We only had two days to prepare, but that is the situation for all the teams who go all the way in Europe. I saw the lads give their best and recover well.”

Since De Rossi took over from Jose Mourinho in mid-January, Roma clawed back 14 points from Juventus, but they have still not beaten any of the top four this season.

“We have to take it one game at a time, there is bound to be some fatigue, but we must try to cover that gap with motivation. This match means more to us than it does to them, and when our energies start to flag, we have the crowd that can fire us up again.

“It is also important to have fresh legs off the bench and keep things going.”

De Rossi switches to Christmas Tree

De Rossi seems to have adopted a 4-3-2-1 formation, the old Carlo Ancelotti Christmas Tree, with Paulo Dybala and Tommaso Baldanzi supporting Romelu Lukaku.

“Dybala and Baldanzi have great technique, are good at playing between the lines, but they do not have the pace to take men on, so instead they need to make the ball move quickly, give and go, never stay still.

“We must give few reference points to the Juventus defence, because if we attack them in a slow or static fashion, they are solid.”