Lyon’s Rachid Ghezzal admits it’s “impossible not to be inspired” by Roma captain Francesco Totti.
The Giallorossi are in France to face the Ligue 1 side tonight in the first leg of their Europa League Last 16 tie, and the OL winger spoke to Gazzetta dello Sport.
“Totti? I never had idols, but it’s impossible not to be inspired by a player like him,” Ghezzal said.
Lyon’s Rachid Ghezzal admits it’s “impossible not to be inspired” by Roma captain Francesco Totti.
The Giallorossi are in France to face the Ligue 1 side tonight in the first leg of their Europa League Last 16 tie, and the OL winger spoke to Gazzetta dello Sport.
“Totti? I never had idols, but it’s impossible not to be inspired by a player like him,” Ghezzal said.
“As children we dreamed of becoming professionals, but also of facing legends of his calibre. This year, after [Gianluigi] Buffon I’ll face Totti. I feel lucky.”
Ghezzal also discussed tonight’s first leg, and admits the Lupi are favourites to progress.
“Roma are a very strong squad, they start as favourites but it will be 50-50 on the pitch.
“We had two matches against Juventus in the Champions League to tell us we’re not far off, it’ll take a Champions League performance.
“Roma are very strong tactically, but that’s typical of teams with Italian Coaches. Just look at how [Antonio] Conte has transformed Chelsea, and Italy at the European Championships.
“Roma have a good defence, [Edin] Dzeko has scored a bucketload and [Mohamed] Salah can hurt anyone with his pace.
“We’ll need to be compact and stay focused, we have our own quality with [Alexandre] Lacazette and [Corentin] Tolisso.”