GASPERINI: “European cups are a different type of football”

Roma’s coach Gian Piero Gasperini He summarized the results of the match against Celtic (3:0) and talked about the progress made by Ferguson and the differences between the matches in the European tournament and Serie A.

– Fiorentina won, Roma beat, Bologna won; It was a good evening for Italian football.

– Yes, it was necessary. We need it. And it is never easy to win away on such fields, in such beautiful historical stadiums full of spectators. It was a great match.

– We really liked your courage to update the squad: five changes with Pisilli and El-Ainaoui, Rensch adding freshness and dynamics, and up front with El-Shaarawy and especially Ferguson.

– Yes, they all deserve it. This is the point where important evaluations of the season need to be made, and these need to be made in important matches. But there was this. It is never easy to play against teams with very positive results in such stadiums. The performances of Pisilli, Ferguson and other players give them confidence and expand the team.

– As for Ferguson, did you use the “carrot-and-stick” method?

– No. Ferguson did in the match what he had recently done in training. He’s a young man, you need some patience. Besides the goals – the latter was great – the game itself is also important: intensity, spirit, the ability to run and not lose courage and show your qualities.

– Will there be a risk of saying “We found a striker, Ferguson” in January and not completing the “masterpiece” you have built?

– It would be great if this happens. But as I said, these are young players who can make a breakthrough and provide stability at any time. It would be nice. We will talk about the January transfer market later: we still have many important matches at the moment.

– In Europe, you have to dominate physically. You said, “We are not tired, maybe we are psychologically tired.” So what is the real difference in our championship?

– You meet the leading teams of the championships in Europe. These are more open matches because they are confident and attack with many players. This is a different football to ours, where there is often less space and opportunities to play. At the same time, you are faced with very dangerous attackers. It’s a different kind of football: I wouldn’t say it’s easier, but it’s different.

– Return to physical form. With such a busy schedule, today’s message is positive: you set the pace from the very beginning. Are you ok?

– Sometimes it’s easy to just talk about physical fitness. It all depends on many things. It’s not just running: Fatigue is often neural rather than muscular. Sometimes they underestimate the opponent, sometimes you encounter a very motivated team like on Sunday.

I think the guys are well prepared to play a few games a week: they showed that. What is not always easy is keeping your belief and motivation at maximum. And this is often confused with physical fitness, but it’s not just about that.

– While thinking about the Roma-Como match: Will El Ainaoui, who played a great match today, be able to take the field?

– We’ll probably find out tomorrow. We hope for him and Ndika. This may be important, but it’s not just up to us. However, we will have to play the next matches without two players who showed themselves to be very important today. But Pisilli grew up, played well and I am very happy for him. We have resources in the team and although these are two important parts of the composition, we will try to compensate for their absence.