Eusebio Di Francesco sees similarities between Roma and Fiorentina ahead of their Coppa Italia tie but hopes Luis Muriel ‘doesn’t have his day against us’.
Both sides’ last two Serie A games have yielded a combined 24 goals, with three of them scored by Fiorentina new boy Muriel, who worked under Di Francesco at Lecce during the 2011-12 campaign.
“It’s the luck of football that you can always bounce back,” the Coach told Roma TV before Wednesday’s quarter-final.
Eusebio Di Francesco sees similarities between Roma and Fiorentina ahead of their Coppa Italia tie but hopes Luis Muriel ‘doesn’t have his day against us’.
Both sides’ last two Serie A games have yielded a combined 24 goals, with three of them scored by Fiorentina new boy Muriel, who worked under Di Francesco at Lecce during the 2011-12 campaign.
“It’s the luck of football that you can always bounce back,” the Coach told Roma TV before Wednesday’s quarter-final.
“We half a great first half in Bergamo but dropped off later, so we must improve in this regard.
“We have very little room for error in a knockout match like the one in Florence. We care so much [about the Coppa], like we should.
“There’s a desire in the team to move forward and there’s more focus. I’m happy about that and I hope we reach the semi-finals, also in the knowledge that we’re playing away from home, in front of many opposing fans.
“The teams are a bit similar. We thought we’d found greater balance, but our last few games have made us understand that there’s so much work to do, also on a mental level.
“I think defenders must think in a negative way, in the sense that they think something could happen at any moment. Sometimes we’ve been too distracted.
“They haven’t changed much with Muriel, but he’s a player who can light up a game. I had it him at Lecce, he’s extraordinary on his day and I hope he doesn’t have one against us.
“Cristante and Nzonzi have played regularly and are in good shape. I’ll try to make the most of them in this game.
“Pellegrini has a few little problems that need assessing, but our focus is on Fiorentina, not Milan.”