Spalletti thrilled as Roma rediscover rhythm

AS Roma coach Luciano Spalletti was delighted with the spirit his team showed as they put their Serie A struggles aside to record a convincing 3-1 victory against Chelsea FC to move second in UEFA Champions League Group A. "I think this can become a turning point for our season," he said, while Luiz Felipe Scolari acknowledged his side were second best.

Luciano Spalletti, Roma coach
Matteo Brighi and Daniele De Rossi did a terrific job in midfield, both covering in the middle and on the flanks, where Chelsea were most dangerous. Their hard work allowed [Mirko] Vučinić to play in a more advanced position alongside [Francesco] Totti. I think we can continue with the 4-4-2 formation we used tonight for a while, at least until we have more players back from injury. The key to our success, though, was that we managed to remain united despite the difficult period we find ourselves in at the moment. The fans were also great in supporting us from the first to the last minute, despite recent results. I hope this win will be a great morale boost for my players. They grew in confidence throughout the game and I think this can become a turning point for our season.

Luiz Felipe Scolari, Chelsea manager
We didn't play well and made mistakes at crucial moments. We gave Roma a couple of opportunities and they took advantage of them. Roma have talented players in midfield and kept possession well after taking the lead. I knew Roma were capable of playing well despite the bad spell they have found themselves in domestically. I especially knew it would become a difficult match if Roma scored first. It's never good to concede three goals but we have to keep working as we have done so far. We created a few chances but Roma defended well. I'm not worried about the sending off of Deco as there are players who can replace him, for example we cannot forget that [Michael] Ballack did not play tonight. The group is still open but we need only one victory to qualify and this is an advantage for us. We were missing a few players tonight but the only reason we lost was because Roma played better than us.