Daniele De Rossi explains how Stephan El Shaarawy reacted to his new role and hailed Romelu Lukaku’s ‘best performance’ after Roma beat Milan in the Europa League quarter-final.
The Giallorossi had been asked all week how they would neutralise the left flank, where Rafael Leao and Theo Hernandez threatened to maraud forward, and it immediately became apparent there was a plan at work.
Stephan El Shaarawy was shifted over from the left to the right side of a trident attack to help Zeki Celik, with Lorenzo Pellegrini pushing wide left, almost to replicate Milan’s 4-2-3-1 formation.
It paid off, as days after his winning header in the Derby della Capitale against Lazio, Gianluca Mancini was again decisive on a corner.
“I thought for 60-70 minutes, the way we controlled the ball was really good. We were drawing them out and then creating spaces to run into,” De Rossi told Sky Sport Italia.
“I think it was Romelu’s best performance since I have been here. We tend to judge strikers on whether they score goals, but he fought hard, held up the ball, did everything I want to see from him.”
El Shaarawy is a former Milan player and De Rossi’s ex-teammate, but using him on the right made a huge difference.
“Milan have that strength down the left, which has allowed them to dominate games in recent years, so it felt right to make changes. We usually have Paulo Dybala there, but Bryan Cristante helped too and was always ready to double up on Reijnders.
“You want players who are open to different things, who don’t get pig-headed about certain roles. When I told El Shaarawy I wanted him on the right, his body language was immediately positive. I knew he’d do well.”
Zeki Celik is another player who had fallen down the pecking order under Jose Mourinho, but today helped to neutralise Rafael Leao.
“Confidence makes a huge difference, you just see it in their body language in training and on the pitch. Mentality, technique and tactics are all connected in a chain. I told the players I had faith in them before this match.”
Roma came to San Siro and played on an even keel, going for the victory and threatening more goals, again a very different approach to Jose Mourinho’s defence-first.
“We had a few matches where we were a bit sluggish against Lecce, but we got back to passing it around well, the approach against Lazio was the right one. People tend to think the stronger the opponents, the harder it is for you to see the ball, but in my view it can even be the opposite.
“You can talk about the atmosphere and all that, but great attacking teams do tend to leave spaces at the back, so you need to keep your cool and not tremble. I loved the courage to keep the ball, the strength to defend in the final minutes, because that’s football too.
“After the draw with Lecce, I told the players I would not accept a single centimetre less than the attitude I saw in the derby. We cannot just raise our game for Lazio and Milan, if we don’t see the same attitude against Udinese, then it means some players have not learned what it means to play football. I was upset after Lecce, as we played really badly.”
This is a big advantage, but the away goals rule no longer applies, so with these two teams so familiar with each other, playing the second leg on home turf might not be quite as dramatic a difference as when facing foreign opposition.
mamma mia che arbitro sta turpin i macaron. il suo guardalinee doveva essere cieco e tutti nella stanza dell’var dovevano dormire.