Luciano Spalletti praised the experience of Daniele De Rossi as Roma hung on to draw 1-1 at Porto in a Champions League playoff first-leg on Wednesday (17th August) after having defender Thomas Vermaelen sent off before halftime on his debut.

"Daniele de Rossi is an experienced player and he can read this type of match easily. The red card had an impact in our strategy and we had to change some things and adjust other players on the pitch. In the second half we did well trying to keep the result and De Rossi had an important role in that. In the second half Florenzi had a hard time marking Otavio and he was also tired, and that's something that I we must remember. About my substitutions, I had to wait to check how the game was panning out. Overall I'm glad that my players sacrificed a lot helping each other."