Gasperini analyzes loss to Man United: “It teaches us a lot.”

Gasperini analyzes loss to Man United: “It teaches us a lot.” A terrible late defeat condemned Roma to the Champions League. Leading the way, the Giallorossi saw Manchester United overturn their lead in the final minutes: first a penalty from Bruno Fernandes, then a brace from Matheus Cunha. The Brazilian first leveled the scoreline with a mistake from Balerdi, then scored the winner in the 86th minute, capping his wild night with a red card in the 91st. After the match, Gian Piero Gasperini analyzed the painful defeat to Sky Sport , starting with the episode that changed the match’s momentum: “I think it was a different game than the one against Real Madrid,” the Giallorossi coach explained. “There weren’t such obvious signs of a decline, as there were after the penalty, which gave them a great boost.” No excuses, however, for the inability to stem the Red Devils’ final assault: “There’s no coincidence in the goals we conceded in the comeback; tonight we didn’t have the strength to defend their attackers. It’s natural that you can struggle against Manchester United in the final 15 minutes if they attack like that.” “They started to press further forward; we had to play differently, taking advantage of long balls. We weren’t able to keep up with them: we should have resorted to a few more tackles, but instead we suffered their momentum, which was amplified by the penalty and the 2-2 incident.” On managing the right flank and using Lulli in place of the injured Rensch (with Molina left out): “Molina could have stayed in, yes. Rensch started well, then he got injured and I opted for Lulli. But that’s not the reason for the defeat. I think it was a different match, which taught us more than the one against Real Madrid.” He concluded by focusing on the psychological aspect of dealing with the backlash: “There was a bit of disappointment after seeing victory slip away from you at the front. The team perhaps needs to relieve itself of the pressure of a result at all costs.”