AS Roma coach Luis Enrique defended his selection after their thrashing by Juventus.

Francesco Totti and Erik Lamela were surprisingly on the bench at the Juventus Stadium.

Enrique said: "I did not see it as a risk. Don't forget Totti was playing in the Coppa Italia game here and we lost 3-0. It's too easy to talk about decisions afterwards. Juventus have great quality and physicality, so I thought it was best to adopt a more physical approach and reserve Totti for the next game.

"We must already look ahead to Wednesday with Fiorentina and then Napoli. Every time a defeat like this happens, of course we are worried.

"It was a game that I thought required more stamina and strength, so I believed this was the right line-up for the occasion. After those first eight minutes, it made no difference who was on the pitch. We had two trequartisti, Fabio Borini and Miralem Pjanic.

"I have played a few games in my career and know intensity is crucial. It's true we are struggling to find that intensity and tonight Juve were more intense. I don't think we are four goals different to Juve, but tonight that was the case."