Gian Piero Gasperini said Roma’s ownership must stay close to the team as the club prepares for the second derby of the season and its last home match of the campaign. Speaking at 13.30 at Trigoria on the eve of the game, he said the presence of the owners is “fundamental” because things work better when they are there.
“At the centre of the Roma project is the club, it is much broader and more complete,” Gasperini said, adding that there are fewer people passing messages around when ownership is present and that decisions come faster. The coach’s remarks came with Roma still locked in a strong fight for Champions League qualification, a race that gives Sunday’s match far greater weight than a routine city derby.
That is why Gasperini also wanted Ryan Friedkin to keep building his knowledge of the squad and the players who, in his view, are already giving everything. It was one of several points he made about how the club should move in the final stretch of the season, with Paulo Dybala’s renewal still unresolved. “It is important that both sides, ownership and player, have this idea,” he said of the Argentine’s future.
The derby itself adds another layer. Roma beat Lazio in the first meeting between the sides this season, and Gasperini expects nothing easy this time either. “The derby is difficult for everyone, then Lazio are an excellent team,” he said, stressing that their main motivation is to stop Roma reaching its maximum target. He said football is at its best when it is played in a full stadium, a reminder of why this fixture still carries so much charge even at the end of a long campaign.
Roma’s own stakes make the timing sharper. The club have Champions League qualification within reach, but Gasperini made clear that motivation will not be the problem. “We have much truer and stronger motivations, more tied to the result,” he said. That is the edge Roma will try to carry into a derby that can still shape the season, and perhaps the mood around the club heading into the summer.
The evening also fits into a run of recent derby build-up that has kept the city on edge, including the earlier scheduling change reported in Roma Vs Lazio moved to Monday after Rome derby tennis clash and the coach’s previous comments on the top-four battle in Roma - Lazio: Gasperini says derby motivation is strong in top-four race. For now, the message from Trigoria was plain: Roma want the club close, the decisions quick, and the result big enough to match the moment.
