Cassetti proud of ragged Roma win

Promoted from his usual right-back slot to right-wing and then switched to the left side, AS Roma's man-in-form Marco Cassetti says he will play anywhere to help the team out after the Italian side's slim 2-1 win over Sporting Clube de Portugal in Group F on Tuesday night.

On a role
"Sure it was a bit of a new role for me tonight but, wherever I'm put, I always try to give my best," the Italian player said. "Playing further forward means I have to adapt my game and adopt a slightly different approach. While players like Mancini do the dribbling, my role is adding balance and helping out defensively in midfield."

Injury curse
Cassetti's future with the Giallorossi was thrown into doubt after the summer signing of Brazilian Cicinho but after a string of fine performances the 30-year-old is providing coach Luciano Spalletti with a welcome selection quandary. Already without midfielders Simone Perrotta, Alberto Aquilani and Taddei before the Sporting match, Roma's squad was further weakened by the injury that saw their skipper Francesco Totti hobble off after 35 minutes. "We're calm about it," he added. "There's a lot of competition in the squad and everyone is up for the available places."

'Will to win'
Totti's replacement Mirko Vučinić scored the 70th-minute winner and Cassetti agreed that Roma were not at their scintillating best against Sporting but insisted qualification was their main goal. "We were on the same number of points as our opponents going into the match so to come out of it with the win makes us very happy. It's given the whole squad a morale boost," he said. "Victory is what counts."

Defensive holes
After Juan had given the home side a 15th-minute lead against Sporting, his Brazilian counterpart Liedson found plenty of space inside the Roma box to plant a firm header past the returning Doni in goal. "I'm not sure the goal was preventable," said Cassetti. "The player did really well to get to the ball and scored with a great header. At the end though we scored one more goal than they did and we've come away with the points. We have two away games now in Lisbon and [FC Dynamo] Kyiv and then one at home against Manchester [United FC], but the next is always the most important. I'm expecting a battle at Sporting."