Stephan El Shaarawy was in tears after his last-gasp Roma winner against Monza and ‘hurt’ by accusations of illegal gambling. ‘How can you disrespect this wonderful sport?’
It has been quite the week for El Shaarawy, who made his comeback for Italy, then took legal action against gossip columnist Fabrizio Corona for alleging that he was involved in illegal gambling.
Today he came off the bench against 10-man Monza to snatch a victory at the 90th minute on the volley, the fourth Serie A Roma win in a row.
The emotion of the moment washed over him and he burst into tears at the final whistle.
“How can you disrespect this wonderful sport when you see all of this?” he told Sky Sport Italia.
“I think scoring a late goal and celebrating is one of the most incredible feelings you can experience and I only ever thought about enjoying my football.”
El Shaarawy was asked if these tears were a way of letting out the frustration from the last few days.
“It is for everything, but I am also truly happy with this goal.”
Both El Shaarawy and his Roma teammate Nicola Zalewski were named by Corona as one of the players in the gambling scandal, but they are not under formal investigation and are suing him.
“It did hurt, because it hurts when things are said about you that are not true, even if your conscience is clear.”