Belgian midfielder Radja Nainggolan believes Roma deserve to be second in the Serie A table after he scored twice in a 3-1 win over Inter Milan which closed the gap on leaders Juventus to seven points.
Nainggolan scored with two fine strikes to give the visitors a 2-0 lead before Mauro Icardi marked his return from suspension with Inter's goal nine minutes from time at San Siro.
But a Diego Perotti penalty three minutes later sealed the win for Roma and Nainggolan hailed his side's performance.
"We're proving that we deserve to be where we are,'' Nainggolan told the Roma website.
"We produced a great performance tonight against a top side. It's never easy to win here and I think we deserved the three points.''
The victory kept Roma firmly in the race for the title after Juventus had stretched their lead with a 2-0 win over Empoli on Saturday.
Nainggolan added: "We knew Napoli had lost and Juventus had won again. We need to keep winning. It's positive too that we've pulled away from Napoli a bit.
"It was a tough game tonight but we have a great group of players here and we're being consistent in our results. We need to keep improving with every game. Next up for us is the derby, which is always a tricky match, but we're ready.''
Nainggolan said he was enjoying his new role under coach Luciano Spalletti, who has him playing behind lone striker Edin Dzeko.
"I just have to focus on doing what the boss asks of me. I like the position, I'm scoring goals and I'm happy. But I'm just one player in the team -- without the rest of the team, I'm just like everyone else. Right now we just need to stay focused because we have lots of matches at the moment.''
Icardi admitted Nainggolna's goals were the difference between the two sides.
He told the Inter Channel TV station: "We'd prepared well for the game during the week and were really up for it but two brilliant goals by Nainggolan made the difference tonight.
"We're disappointed to come away empty-handed because we worked hard for this match.
"We have to stay focused on our season and on playing each game as it comes. We'll add everything up at the end [of the season]. We just need to keep plugging away and focusing on ourselves.''