Daniele De Rossi admits the Europa League took a lot out of Roma, but must ‘tip our hats’ to Bologna over a 3-1 result at the Olimpico.
This was only his second Serie A defeat on the Giallorossi bench after capitulating to leaders Inter early in his reign.
Inevitably, the strain of Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final win over Milan, where they had to play most of the match down to 10 men, took its toll and not just because Romelu Lukaku was ruled out.
“Perhaps we were less sharp than usual, but Bologna play good football, move around a lot and make you seem less sharp too,” De Rossi told DAZN.
“Other times we scored more goals with fewer attempts, but Bologna deserve congratulations, they deserved the victory. It was a balanced match, we were more dangerous in the first half, but couldn’t make it count and that would’ve given us a boost.”
Leandro Paredes was extremely tense in the opening minutes and was booked, meaning he’ll be suspended against Napoli, along with Diego Llorente.
“There was a little too much tension, we cannot let ourselves get irritable over a yellow card, because that cannot decide a match. Their goal also took us off track, but the lads fought to the end.
“We are grown-ups, we are experienced and we ought to know how to handle negative moments. So far, we’ve done well in head-to-head clashes. Tension can happen, but it must not influence our attitude on the pitch.
“If we want to be perfect and continue this climb up the table, we must do better at handling moments, as an experienced team would not concede a goal like that at the 44th minute. Again, we had time to turn it around, but conceding the third wiped us out.”
De Rossi choices limited
With Lukaku injured, Tammy Abraham had his first start since suffering a devastating knee injury in June 2023, while Sardar Azmoun came off the bench and got a goal back.
“We have some very different and very good strikers. Abraham worked hard, there are bound to be ups and downs after such a long injury lay-off. Azmoun was coming off an injury too, so I didn’t feel it right to start him today, but he’ll be very useful this season.”
Jose Mourinho had complained repeatedly that Roma did not have the strength in depth to handle Serie A and the Europa League, so how will De Rossi deal with Thursday’s 20-minute Udinese replay and upcoming semi-final against Bayer Leverkusen?
“We are not being helped by the authorities with the scheduling, but we don’t want to talk about that anymore. It’s not about physical strain playing 20 minutes, but mentally having to prepare for that game again is not easy.
“We are disappointed at losing today, but not destroyed. We are in Europe against the only unbeaten team in the world this season, but we try to be positive.”
The race for the top five is wide open, especially with Atalanta climbing back up the standings.
“We respect everyone. Atalanta have a game in hand and by the looks of it will get to play it once the season is effectively over. We knew it would be difficult, we need to keep fighting. As for today, it’s only right to tip your hat to opponents of a high level.”