Perotti: We're ready for a great season

Diego Perotti is looking forward to picking up where he left off, as players return to pre-season training ahead of the 2017-18 campaign.

Perotti scored the vital winning goal in the final match of last season, the 3-2 win over Genoa that secured Roma's place in this season's Champions League group stage.

And, motivated by that achievement, the Argentine is looking forward to getting back to work under new head coach Eusebio Di Francesco.

"It will be a tough campaign and we'll face some top sides," Perotti said. "Inter, AC Milan and Juventus are all strengthening.

"It will be a great season, we'll be involved in the best competition in world football and we have to be ready. We want to win a trophy this term. We wanted silverware last season but we didn't manage to secure any."

On that Genoa strike, he reflected: "Football is all about moments like those. Had I not scored that goal, everything would be different. It gave me confidence, including with the fans, who were delighted when it went in just like my team-mates and I were. It was the biggest goal of my career.

"I begin this season with greater desire whereas it would have been completely different had we needed to negotiate the play-off round."

The winger enjoyed his summer holiday, but made sure to put in some conditioning work to be ready to hit the ground running.

"We're keen to get to know our new team-mates and the new coach," he added. "It's positive that we've brought in an attack-minded coach. I hope to perform well during our training camp and impress him.

"It'd be hard to resume work if I spent a whole month doing nothing. I trained a bit even though I was on holiday. It was cold in Argentina but I couldn't afford to start again from scratch."

Perotti and the rest of the players who reported for training on Thursday will depart for Trentino on Friday morning, ahead of a week-long training camp in the Dolomites.