Daniele De Rossi coach of the Rome, trust in his players to overcome Bayer Leverkusen and reach the UEFA Europa League finalfor which they will have to imitate the legendary ‘Loba’ match against Barcelona in 2018 in which they turned around the 2-0 lead in the first leg.
The second leg semi-final will be played at the BayArena Stadium this Thursday from 4:00 p.m. (ARG and URU), 3:00 p.m. (CHI) and 2:00 p.m. (COL, PER and ECU), with live broadcast of Star+ (only for South America).
In that 2018 match, De Rossi was captain of a Roma side that beat Barcelona 3-0 at the Olympic Stadium to reach the UEFA Champions League semi-finals.
“I told that team that I trusted them as a teammate and captain, and I am sure I can say the same to my players because they have brought me here. It is thanks to them, to their collective and human quality. I have a lot of confidence in that tomorrow (Thursday) we will play a good game and we will try to achieve a small feat,” the coach said at a press conference.
“In the Barcelona game it was at home, we were so doomed that paradoxically it was easier to take it easy and turn the impossible game into a possible one. Bayer is very strong, but Barcelona’s team were considered aliens,” he added.
“Everything makes me think that we have what it takes to recreate that type of atmosphere. From there to say that we will pass is not automatic, but we are ready to play a real game,” he said.
De Rossi, with the unknown of the Argentine Paulo Dybala, who left injured in this Sunday’s duel against Juventus, warned that he does not think beyond this match, despite playing for the ‘Champions’ positions against Atalanta this Sunday.
“I won’t book anyone thinking about the game against Atalanta. I will do the evaluations with the doctors. We have to evaluate how Dybala is doing and talk about it with him,” he said.
The coach, despite recognizing the merit of his rival, trusts in his possibilities.
“We know it’s difficult, they haven’t lost, but we have to believe in it like we did until the last second of the first leg. Creating enough clear chances led us to play this game too. We know it will be difficult, but that’s what we’re here for “he insisted.
