Daniele De Rossi admits Roma “stopped playing” after the Shakhtar Donetsk equaliser, but the 2-1 defeat “keeps us in the running.”
Cengiz Under had given them the half-time lead in Kharkiv, but defensive errors and a much slower tempo saw Shakhtar turn it around to win 2-1.
The second leg of this Champions League Round of 16 tie is at the Stadio Olimpico on March 13.
Daniele De Rossi admits Roma “stopped playing” after the Shakhtar Donetsk equaliser, but the 2-1 defeat “keeps us in the running.”
Cengiz Under had given them the half-time lead in Kharkiv, but defensive errors and a much slower tempo saw Shakhtar turn it around to win 2-1.
The second leg of this Champions League Round of 16 tie is at the Stadio Olimpico on March 13.
“We put in a very good first half performance, but after conceding the goal with a mistake we shouldn’t have made, we stopped playing,” confessed captain De Rossi on Mediaset Premium.
“We struggled to be aggressive on their attacking players between the lines. Shakhtar are a strong side and we’ll analyse where we went wrong, but must remember this result keeps us in the running for qualification. We need a great second leg in Rome.”
The error for the equaliser was by Alessandro Florenzi, who had been in doubt to the last minute after coming down with a stomach bug.
“Mistakes happen, but the bitter taste in the mouth is because we seemed to have the game in hand during the first half. Shakhtar will now come to Rome in order to defend and hit us on the counter-attack, so we must be wide awake.”