AS Roma captain Daniele de Rossi has claimed it’s hard to deal with Liverpool’s onrushing attackers when they’re simply so much faster than you.
The Reds raced into a 5-0 lead last night, with more than one of the goals coming on the counter attack.
Roma’s former winger Mo Salah notched twice, as did Roberto Firmino, with Sadio Mane getting one himself – although the Senegalese also missed three gilt-edged chances.
De Rossi has paid us a big compliment:
“Salah? We know him, he’s a great player and a great person. He cost a lot tonight, but I’m happy for him. We can hold on to what has been done in the quarterfinals, which tells us that it is possible to recover,” he told Calciomercato.
“Giving a tactical explanation by not reviewing the game would be wrong. They are strong, they prepared well for the match. We had a good 20-25 minutes or so. We were not great at defending their runs behind the defence, although it is difficult to cover against those who are faster than you.
“Today there was a blackout, great result for Liverpool, we will need to play a great game in Rome. It will not be easy, but we know it’s not impossible. Physical or mental fatigue? We are paying for having two great teams, Inter and Lazio, bothering us in the standings. There are only four games are left of the season, plus the return of the semi-final.”
Roma obviously are capable of turning around this result in the Italian capital.
Liverpool had the tie wrapped up, but now a 3-0 win will see our opponents through, just as it did for them in the quarters against Barcelona.
Virgil van Dijk, Dejan Lovren, Loris Karius and our fullbacks will again need the game of their lives – and hope our breathtaking attackers get one on the counter to put the game to bed.