Rome, Gasperini: "Nowadays, it's more like rugby than football. Pellegrini? Poor lad, leave him alone. Here's when Koné and Soulé will be back."

"Second balls have become decisive: pressure forces you to play long balls, and you often end up playing rugby-style football. I think it's a bit of a seasonal thing. As soon as the temperatures change, as happens at the end of matches, we start playing a more passing game, and that could happen soon. Comeback? If the match is like this, the technical aspect of building the game becomes much more difficult, and we work on the structure. Today we had a very young team, we can concede some deficits in strength, but we came out well in the ninety minutes. The match in Rome will be decisive; both games could be very different. We created four or five chances. It's not a question of being bold; we were up against a strong opponent, and I don't consider Roma's performance to be negative at all.

At the press conference, the former Atalanta player added:

"Problems in defence? It's a matter of adaptation. Hermoso and Mancini were out, and today's game was very much about long balls and tackles. Ghilardi played well, and Celik is definitely better as a defender on the wing. We've been patching things up for several weeks, but we'll be at full strength for the return leg, fingers crossed."

"This type of game isn't ideal for Zaragoza because long balls don't suit his characteristics, but the season is long and with different temperatures he can make the difference, or in the final minutes of the game when the pace slows down. Robinio Vaz came on well and brought some physicality to the pitch. Realistically, I think Soulé will be back after the break, but it's difficult to predict. This is the first time Konè has missed a game in Europe; he had problems recovering from the match in Genoa. We preferred not to risk him, given that we now have Como and then the return leg against Bologna."

Pellegrini? Poor lad, leave him alone. Some games he plays well, others less so: like everyone else. It's not because he scored today that the assessments are different. We must always be objective. Is El Aynaoui different from how he was before the Africa Cup of Nations? The Africa Cup of Nations often causes these problems, but then you get back into the rhythm by playing. The incidence is very high, so you have to be careful when signing players who play in the Africa Cup of Nations. However, he is an excellent player and very professional, we just have to be patient."