AS Roma coach Daniele De Rossi expressed his admiration for Bayer Leverkusen, who his team faces on Thursday in the Europa League semi-final first leg: “It’s a team that has something extra,” he said Wednesday.

“There is something great in this team, because it plays well, it has very good players, it is led by an excellent coach (Xabi Alonso), one of the best in the world in my opinion, it has something in addition,” De Rossi said at a press conference

“They are German champions, they are aware that they can win titles, perhaps more than us, but we can beat them,” he continued.

Before the Europa League semi-final first leg on Thursday at the Olympic Stadium, Bayer is undefeated this season, with an impressive record in all competitions of 38 wins and eight draws.

“This is a team that is aware of its strengths and knows that it can always turn things around, even when it seems impossible. But it’s also a particularity of my team, they fight until the last minute, they have a lot of heart,” insisted De Rossi.

Under the direction of the former Italian international, who succeeded the Portuguese José Mourinho in mid-January, Roma, beaten on penalties in the C3 final last season by Sevilla, has regained color in the championship, going from 9th to 5th place, and only conceded four defeats in all competitions.

“We have a more direct style of play,” summarized Argentinian midfielder Leandro Paredes.

His coach, however, refused to assert that his team had a psychological advantage over Bayer Leverkusen, which it had eliminated from the Europa League at this stage of the competition just a year ago (1-0 in Rome, 0 -0 in Leverkusen).

“It’s not the same Bayer Leverkusen, he was less strong, he didn’t have that confidence,” he warned.

“But it’s going to be a nice game of chess on a tactical level, it’s going to be fun,” concluded De Rossi.