De Rossi and Palladino: ‘Today we are not friends’ | OneFootball

Roma coach Daniele De Rossi and Monza boss Raffaele Palladino were teammates and even classmates lectured by Roberto De Zerbi, so are both happy to go head-to-head today. ‘Today we are not friends!’

It kicks off at the U-Power Stadium at 17.00 GMT.

Torino–Fiorentina on the LIVEBLOG.

De Rossi and Monza boss Palladino sat the coaching badges course together in 2022-23, with De Zerbi as one of the lecturers.

“We are two friends, I also know members of his staff, we’ll have a hug on the touchline,” De Rossi told DAZN.

“Palladino is one of the best emerging coaches I’ve been able to study over the last year and a half, he has a positive, clean image and makes Monza play really good football.”

Roma are on a roll with De Rossi at the helm, winning all but one of his Serie A matches since taking over from Jose Mourinho.

They also eliminated Feyenoord on penalties to reach the Europa League Round of 16, where they host De Zerbi’s Brighton and Hove Albion on Thursday evening.

Meanwhile, Palladino also spoke about their friendship ahead of the match.

“We’ve been friends for a long time, we were teammates in the Italy squad too. He was already a coach on the field then, so his future was always going to be this role. He puts passion and heart into this work, I am very happy he is making the most of this opportunity,” Palladino told DAZN.

“I saw big improvements in the Roma side, you can see his influence. We will try to make it difficult for him though, because today and only today, we are not friends!”

Aged 40 and 39 respectively, De Rossi and Palladino are also the two youngest coaches currently in Serie A.