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AS Roma coach Daniele de Rossi felt attitude was key for their 1-0 Europa League win against AC Milan.

Gianluca Mancini was again the matchwinner as Roma took control of this quarterfinal tie.

De Rossi revealed: We had a few matches where we were a bit sluggish against Lecce, but we got back to passing it around well, the approach against Lazio was the right one. People tend to think the stronger the opponents, the harder it is for you to see the ball, but in my view it can even be the opposite.

You can talk about the atmosphere and all that, but great attacking teams do tend to leave spaces at the back, so you need to keep your cool and not tremble. I loved the courage to keep the ball, the strength to defend in the final minutes, because that's football too.

After the draw with Lecce, I told the players I would not accept a single centimetre less than the attitude I saw in the derby. We cannot just raise our game for Lazio and Milan, if we don't see the same attitude against Udinese, then it means some players have not learned what it means to play football. I was upset after Lecce, as we played really badly."

This article first appeared on Tribal Football and was syndicated with permission.

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