The captain of Roma, Lorenzo Pellegrini, after the 2-0 defeat at home against Bayer Leverkusen, spoke about the match, expressing all his regret which in his opinion did not reflect what was seen on the pitch. Watch the video again with the words of the Giallorossi midfielder: “For me the regret is that they scored two goals and we scored zero. We were the ones who played the game. We wasted many opportunities to hurt them, producing them until the end. They go to home thinking we had already passed the round, but we were thinking about Sunday’s match and how to put them in difficulty on the return leg.”
What needs to be improved in Leverkusen?
“Compared to today we need to improve in scoring goals, they too are a strong team but beyond some of their counterattacks we won the game. They kept themselves low and this allowed us to have opportunities to score. We have to be more cynical, if we create as much as we do today nothing can be taken for granted.”
The match scoreboard.
Rome (4-3-3): Svilar; Karsdorp (17′ st Angelino), Mancini, Smalling, Spinazzola; Paredes (34′ st Azmoun), Cristante, Pellegrini; El Shaarawy, Lukaku (34′ st Baldanzi), Dybala (45’+1′ st Abraham). Available: Rui Patricio, Boer, Ndicka, Llorente, Renato Sanches, Aouar, Bove, Zalewski. Coach: De Rossi
Bayer Leverkusen (3-4-3): Kovar; Tapsoba, Tah, Stanisic; Hincapie, Xhaka, Andrich, Frimpong (43′ st Palacios); Grimaldo (45’+3′ st Kossounou), Wirtz (32′ st Hofmann), Adli (32′ st Tella). Available: Hradecky, Lomb, Borja Iglesias, Arthur, Schick, Boniface, Hlozek, Puerta. Coach: Xabi Alonso
Referee: Letexier (Fra)
Scorers: 28′ Wirtz (L), 28′ st Andrich (L)
Booked: Tah (L), Pellegrini (R), Spinazzola (R), Xhaka (L), Andrich (L), Cristante (R)