Gian Piero Gasperini spoke to DAZN after Roma beat Genoa 2-0 in Serie A on Saturday.

This is what the boss had to say:

Santiago Castro and Emanuele Lulli both scored their first goals for Roma today – two very young players, just 22 and 19.

“Yes, and it wasn't an easy match tonight. Genoa caused problems for us, especially in the first half. We found it hard to get the measure of them. We definitely did better in the second half but we had a very young team out there. I must say they all did really well. We won a very important game.”

Like last year, your team bounced back from a defeat despite making seven changes from the last game.

“I had no doubt about that because I know what these players are like. I know what tremendous character and mental strength they have. It was still a tricky game, though. We got the opener with a brilliant goal – I realised that from the bench but it was an even better goal than I first thought. In the second half we were excellent. In the first half we struggled with Genoa's game – their long balls weren't easy to deal with – but then we came into the ascendancy.”

How have you managed to create more of an attacking threat – with your typical brand of football – compared to last season?

“It wasn't easy. Last season I'd only just arrived. We've come a long way since then. We didn't have [Donyell] Malen and [Paulo] Dybala. We didn't have much. We certainly have better knowledge now. It's been, what, 15-16 months and we've played lots of games, produced lots of performances, and done well. We're certainly scoring more easily than last year and we're scoring a lot of quality goals too, like tonight. The chances we're creating are good too: [Rodrigo] Mora is no giant but he nearly scored with a header. We've learnt lots of ways to attack and to score.”

Did you see the Real Madrid performance as something positive or was it annoying to lose that way? Or maybe both things?

“Both things. Losing like that was terrible because we'd produced a solid performance with lots of chances and lots of good play. We shot ourselves in the foot in five minutes, in those seven or eight minutes – three corners that came from nothing. There was just a bit of pressure from a team that had struggled immensely and created nothing – in fact we'd had chances to score more. That's what was so annoying. I had no doubt we'd react the way we did today because these lads were full of energy. A lot of them had watched the Real game from the bench. I was certain we wouldn't come up short with our reaction. Then of course we had to overcome Genoa. Obviously they don't have the world-class players Real Madrid have but they made it hard for us on a tactical level, especially in the first half. We adjusted things in the second half. We figured out how to deal with them and we did that well.”