Roma coach Rudi Garcia has called for focus from his players ahead of their home encounter against Parma, and claimed that Pablo Daniel Osvaldo’s move to Scudetto rivals Juventus would not change anything for the Giallorossi.
The Eternal City club will be hoping to keep pace with the table-topping Old Lady when they welcome the Ducali to the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday afternoon, with the two teams set to kick off proceedings at 15:00 EST.
“Our aim is to win Sunday’s game against Parma,” the French tactician told reporters at his press conference.
“We’re playing at home and must bring the impetus from last week’s win over Verona into this match.
“Parma are playing very well and haven’t lost in a long time. They have quality in their ranks, however they also have weaknesses.
“We are motivated to do well and rise up the Serie A table. Only then will we turn our attentions to the Coppa Italia semi-final against Napoli.”
The Lupi closed the gap at the top to six points following league leaders Juventus’ 1-1 draw against Lazio in week 21, but the Bianconeri have since reinforced their attack with the addition of Italian international Osvaldo on loan from Southampton.
“I have a lot of respect for the players who have left Roma. Osvaldo is a great player who left for England and has now returned to Italy,” he continued.
“These are the strange things which happen on the transfer market, but it doesn’t change anything for us.
“It doesn’t concern me, although it may be a problem when we face Juve in the penultimate week of the season. We have time for that.”
“I don’t find it particularly normal for a team to change in January, so I am happy the transfer window has closed.
“We signed Radja Nainggolan, Michel Bastos and Rafael Toloi, who is still young. though he already has experience. Nicolas Burdisso requested to leave, so I wanted to be sure we had a good replacement in Toloi.”
Brazilian winger Bastos may debut for his new side on Sunday afternoon, with Dodo and Federico Balzaretti both sidelined for at least another month.
