Gasperini: ‘Roma suffered blow to morale’ in painful 5-2 defeat
Gian Piero Gasperini admits Roma suffered ‘a real blow to morale’ in their 5-2 defeat to Inter, crumbling in the second half, but has not lost hope of fourth place.
It was immediately clear this was going to be a difficult night for the Giallorossi when they went behind after 60 seconds to a Lautaro Martinez strike.
They had equalised through Gianluca Mancini, who then went off injured, but fell apart after Hakan Calhanoglu’s long-range screamer, as Marcus Thuram, another Lautaro Martinez goal, and Nicolò Barella rounded out the scoreline.
Lorenzo Pellegrini’s scuffed finish pulled one back, but the 5-2 defeat is a heavy one and they crumbled after the restart.
Gasperini saw Roma deflate
“It wasn’t easy conceding in the first few seconds, but after that I saw a good Roma, though going into the break behind was a real blow to morale,” Gasperini told DAZN Italia.
“The third goal in particular knocked the wind out of us, and from then on we were really suffering.”
This side had one of the best defensive records in Serie A and have been leaking goals lately, but was Mancini’s injury a contributing factor to that collapse?
“Undoubtedly, Mancini is a very important player for us. When we have a complete squad, we are much more competitive, but are missing quite a few at the moment,” added Gasperini.
“I saw a good Roma in the first half, the final result makes it all look much worse, but admittedly the game was over at the third goal and we must give credit to a very strong Inter side.”
Roma had Matias Soulé back for his first appearance since February 15, but the Argentine looked rusty, while Wesley, Manu Koné, Paulo Dybala, Artem Dovbyk and Evan Ferguson were still out of action.
Now the Giallorossi risk falling further behind Como and potentially even Juventus in the hunt for a top four finish and Gasperini was asked if this team had struggled ever since conceding that last-gasp Federico Gatti goal for 3-3 with Juve.
“No, there were different games and the performances were always good. Tonight we got the second half wrong, there was certainly a drop in morale, you can lose to Inter at San Siro, but not with this scoreline. Now we have two home games and hope to get some good results.
“It is difficult for us, difficult for Juventus, for Como and Atalanta, all the teams challenging for one place. We are a little behind right now, but we’ll do everything possible to recover lost ground, that is for sure,” concluded Gasperini.