de Vrij: “We showed character but we wanted the win”

ROME - Stefan always shows up: elegant with his feet and head, whether that’s in defence or attack. He once again demonstrated his eye for goal in tonight’s clash with Roma, netting goal number four of the season, all of which have come in Serie A. Our Dutchman is one of just four centre-backs to have scored at least two goals in each of the last four seasons in Europe’s Top 5 leagues, alongside Nathan Aké, Sergio Ramos and Leonardo Bonucci. A big achievement alongside an even more impressive statistic: from 2016/17 to today, only Sergio Ramos (28) has scored more goals than Stefan De Vrij (14) out of all the centre-backs in Europe’s Top 5 leagues. 

A goal that didn’t cancel out the regret at not getting all three points at the Olimpico, as he revealed to Inter TV: “I’m happy with the boss’ words of praise. Today we took the lead and then managed to level things up at the end: we showed character. We’ve still got a long way to go in a lot of respects and that’s what we’ll look to do.”

On the 2-2 draw and how it came about: “We could have done more in possession, maybe we forced things every now and then and that’s where their goals came from, by catching us out of position after we lost possession in the middle. Unfortunately they really took advantage of that tonight. There’s still work to be done.”

On the positive statistics: “I’m always looking to help the team where I can and I’m happy to have been able to do that with a goal today. But I’m not satisfied with the result, we came here to win and we didn’t manage to do that: we’re disappointed. It hurts, it hurts for the whole team but especially for us defenders and goalkeepers. Recently we’ve been paying big prices for our mistakes and that’s a big source of regret for us.”