De Rossi returns for Roma after derby red card
Reuters - Friday 07 December 2012, 12:13
AS Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi is available for Saturday's Serie A match against Fiorentina at the Olympic Stadium after serving a three-match ban for punching Lazio's Stefano Mauri during the Rome derby last month.
"He is available, but I will give the line-up out tomorrow," Roma manager Zdenek Zeman told a news conference on Friday.
"He's a good player and I hope he can help us out."
Zeman's team have won three in a row in his absence to move up to sixth place, three points behind fourth-placed Fiorentina, but team mate Simone Perrotta said De Rossi's return was a huge boost.
"He's a high quality player, exceptional," Perrotta, who scored in last week's 3-1 win at Siena, told La Gazzetta Dello Sport on Thursday.
"Only those of us in the dressing room after the derby can know how sad he was after blowing up like that."
De Rossi has a frosty relationship with Zeman and has been the subject of intense transfer speculation all season, with many in Italy noting the difference between his displays for Roma and the national side, where he has excelled.
"Undoubtedly he's not playing extraordinarily well, but the problem is that we've got used to him putting in above-average displays and now that he's playing at a normal level it seems like he's having a disastrous season," added Perrotta.
"I hope he stays here because he can make a difference."