Di Francesco calls for Roma focus
A 4-1 thrashing at the hands of Barca in the quarter-final first leg on Wednesday left Roma with a mountain to climb at the Stadio Olimpico next week.
Should Lionel Messi and Co repeat the feat in the second game it could be a tough blow to recover from for the Giallorossi – who currently occupy a top-four place in Serie A.
That is something Di Francesco is determined to hold on to and the coach has called for focus as they prepare to face Fiorentina on Saturday.
"The day after [the Barcelona game] wasn't easy," he told a media conference.
"We were all disappointed with the result because we didn't deserve to lose by such a scoreline but we must look forward.
"We have another big match to play against Fiorentina now and they'll be determined to do well.
Di Francesco: "Bruno Peres was one of the best players on the pitch against Barcelona on Wednesday. That means I can think about using Alessandro Florenzi in other positions."#ASRoma #RomaFiorentina pic.twitter.com/mQe4zt8G81
— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) April 6, 2018
"We have a few niggling problems we need to consider carefully because we have Barcelona and Lazio to play next week.
"We must make sure we're ready for these games.
"We're thinking about nothing but Fiorentina at the moment and I don't want our focus to slip. We must hold onto third place, especially as we have a six-pointer against Lazio coming up."
Di Francesco has some injury concerns ahead of Roma's return to league action, with Cengiz Under and Radja Nainggolan unlikely to feature.
"Cengiz Under won't be involved tomorrow but hopefully we'll be able to include him in the squad for Barcelona next week," added the coach. "We'll have to see.
"Nainggolan will have a fitness test to see if he can play. On the day of the match against Barcelona he gave it one last go in training but still felt some pain and it would have affected him during the game."