Rossi relishes Lazio's show of pride

Coach Delio Rossi believes the pride of his S.S. Lazio players was the crucial factor as two second-half goals from captain Tommaso Rocchi secured a 2-1 home win against Werder Bremen in UEFA Champions League Group C - their first victory in this season's group stage - with Diego's 88th-minute penalty coming too late for the German side. Visiting coach Thomas Schaaf was left bemoaning an error-strewn performance from his team that left them bottom of the section, two points behind opponents who climbed to second place.

Delio Rossi, Lazio coach
Our great pride was the key to this victory. We played really well in a very difficult period but we always give our best in this kind of situation. I have to thank my players for their approach. I'm especially happy for the players who have not had much of an opportunity until now. We have lots of injured players and our squad is not very big so we have been forced to field the same players without the possibility of rotating the squad. We wasted many opportunities in the first half, I thought the yellow shirt of their goalkeeper was the reason because we were always shooting at him. The victory was fully deserved and we still have the chance to qualify. This is already a great result considering all the problems we've had so far.

Thomas Schaaf, Bremen coach
Obviously we were hoping for a different result but tonight we made too many mistakes. Considering the team we have, we must play much better than we did here. We lacked confidence, gave Lazio too much space and they punished us for this mistake. Today Lazio were superior and did not give us the opportunity to play our usual football. During the break I told my players we should play with more determination in the second half; unfortunately we didn't manage to do it this time. I didn't put on another forward because playing with three or four forwards doesn't mean that you create more in attack. I think we have to win both the remaining games to have a chance of qualifying; I don't think there are other options for us.