Daniele De Rossi apologised to Roma's supporters for donning "a stern face" as his former club paid tribute to him following Genoa's 3-1 defeat at Stadio Olimpico.

The ex-Giallorossi midfielder and head coach returned to his former home on Monday, receiving a warm welcome ahead of kick-off – including embraces from Paulo Dybala, Gianluca Mancini and Manu Kone.

De Rossi made over 600 appearances for Roma as a player, before overseeing the club's fortunes during a 30-game spell in 2024 (W14 D9).

The Genoa boss then undertook an emotional lap of honour following his side's 3-1 loss, their third defeat on the spin, while shaking hands with several supporters.

"I'm angry on the inside. It's frustrating because I didn't like the performance we put in," De Rossi said. "That feeling still remains despite the final goodbye, the support from my fans, from my former fans, from my former players.

"They would have done the same with a draw, a victory or a defeat, but it would have been a bit nicer to go and say goodbye to them after a different performance.

"I'm sorry I had a stern face on during that farewell, but they know me. They know that I don't have any other way of experiencing football."

The damage was done during the first half at Stadio Olimpico, where Matias Soule, Kone and Evan Ferguson were all on target for Roma inside the opening 31 minutes.

Gian Piero Gasperini wanted his side to maintain their performance levels after the break, but was pleased with their efforts overall.

"We caused quite a few problems for [Genoa] with our runs from deep, and we always looked dangerous," the Giallorossi boss added.

"I'm a bit disappointed about the second half. I'd have liked us to play better football, but the match fizzled out a bit. In any case, we have to take all the positives.

"You can't get your approach or the level of intensity wrong in this team, because we're a team that gets results when we play at a high tempo.

"When we haven't been able to get a result, we've still played well. That's the main thing."