Roma will aim to give Liverpool less space in behind, Eusebio Di Francesco confirms, but “if you want to score three you can’t stay under your own crossbar”.
The Giallorossi are 5-2 down after the first leg of their Champions League semi-final, so they have to score at least three times to have any chance of reaching the final in Kiev.
“Nothing is decided in terms of the team,” Coach Di Francesco said in his pre-match Press conference.
Roma will aim to give Liverpool less space in behind, Eusebio Di Francesco confirms, but “if you want to score three you can’t stay under your own crossbar”.
The Giallorossi are 5-2 down after the first leg of their Champions League semi-final, so they have to score at least three times to have any chance of reaching the final in Kiev.
“Nothing is decided in terms of the team,” Coach Di Francesco said in his pre-match Press conference.
“We’ll have players missing and fewer options than usual, but nothing decisive. This is an important game to be approached in the right way both defensively and offensively.
“We need to give our opponents less space in behind, even if this is more of a journalistic issue than a tactical one.
“We have to score three goals and there’s definitely the risk of getting caught on the counter-attack, so we have to take that into account.
“Asking about the defence doesn’t make much sense though, because if you want to score three goals you can’t stay under your own crossbar.”
Roma have already completed one extraordinary comeback, overturning a 4-1 loss to Barcelona with a 3-0 win at the Olimpico.
“We’re facing a totally different team, tactically and even mentally, one that holds the ball less and goes more direct.
“We have the desire to achieve the comeback though, and do something important.
“If I could I would copy and paste that performance against Barcelona, not just technically but on a mental and physical level.
“To compete with Liverpool you need to raise your athletic performance, we need to score as soon as possible to excite our fans and give them a reason to push us.
“We’re playing a semi-final in front of a stadium with 70,000 people. I want to see enthusiasm and the desire to overcome the obstacle.
“After that there can be any result, but that’s what I want to see.”
Jurgen Klopp’s assistant Zeljko Buvac has left Liverpool, at least until the end of the season.
“I’ve kicked out my assistant too to make it even!” Di Francesco joked.
“It’s internal stuff, I’m not preparing the game based on that. We’ll face a strong and determined team which represents a great club, one with a great history in Europe.
“I don’t think one staff member can make a difference.”