Ranieri: 'I won't salute Juve directors'
Claudio Ranieri maintains there was no desire for revenge at Juventus, but did admit he “won't salute the directors.”
It was a particularly special 2-1 victory for the Roma boss, who was sacked two weeks from the end of last season.
“It was the victory of fighting to the end. The lads believed, despite the fact Roma hadn't won here in nine years. We wanted to win for our fans, who are following us now and starting to have fun.
“It is not worth anything special on a personal level. I am part of Roma and this was important because Juventus want to stay in the Champions League hunt, so obviously a victory today would put them further behind us.
“I am very happy with what I did in my two years in Turin and now I'm very happy to be at Roma. There is no desire for revenge. It is my first win over Juventus, clearly I needed to get my home team to achieve it.”
However, Ranieri did let slip a bit of hardness when asked who he shook hands with on his return to the Olimpico.
“I said hello to everyone I met before the referee led the teams on to the field. I won't salute the directors, no. I saluted Ciro Ferrara, but not the directors.”
The Giallorossi had a rough start to this game, as Luca Toni limped off just three minutes in, so Francesco Totti was introduced.
“To be honest, Francesco was only training with us for a week and I didn't want to risk him, especially as we have a big game on Tuesday.
“The plan was to have him on the bench and not need him during the 90 minutes, but instead we had to throw him on immediately.”
The team was in dire straits when Ranieri took over from Luciano Spalletti a few weeks into the campaign, but are now in third place and five points clear of Juventus.
“My Roma have changed above all in terms of mentality, as every Coach tries to bring his approach, ideas and experience.
“When I said forget entertainment I was trying to teach them that not conceding goals and picking up points was first and foremost until we settled.
“Now Roma are playing good football, are compact and believe in what the Coach tells them. I couldn't be happier.”
They are also just eight points off leaders Inter ahead of tomorrow night's Derby della Madonnina.
“The Scudetto is a big ideal and we leave that to Inter and Milan. We are battling for the Champions League, there are many clubs going for those places and that was why it was important to win today.”
source:
http://www.football-italia.net/jan23u.html