Gianluca Mancini insists the fiery ‘friendly’ draw with FC Porto was ‘fun’ and just the kind of game Roma need to rev up their pre-season.
The defender scored the opening goal by nodding in a corner before Vitinha’s 89th-minute equaliser, in a match that was overshadowed by an ugly brawl.
The tension erupted when Pepe clattered into Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who reacted angrily and kicked out at him.
You can watch the clip of the incident here.
“This is the right attitude that we need,” assured Mancini.
“It was a very good and hard-fought game, we had fun. It might say ‘friendly’ on the paperwork, but this is how matches ought to be, otherwise neither team will get much practice out of it.
“We are happy with the performance and the spirit, so hopefully the other friendlies will be like this too and we can prepare in the best way for the Conference League and Serie A.”