KAA Gent coach Jess Thorup maintains they “were the better team over the two legs,” but Roma made more of their scoring opportunities.
The first leg 1-0 result sealed by Carles Perez proved decisive in this Europa League Round of 32 tie, as it ended 1-1 in Belgium with Justin Kluivert replying to Jonathan David.
KAA Gent coach Jess Thorup maintains they “were the better team over the two legs,” but Roma made more of their scoring opportunities.
The first leg 1-0 result sealed by Carles Perez proved decisive in this Europa League Round of 32 tie, as it ended 1-1 in Belgium with Justin Kluivert replying to Jonathan David.
“I am proud of the team, because we put Roma under immense pressure over the two legs and they were clearly not accustomed to that,” insisted Thorup in his press conference.
“We managed as a team to create chances and play our football. At the same time, I am also very disappointed, because you need to score goals when you have the opportunity and we didn’t do that.
“In any case, we’ve now reached 22 competitive games unbeaten in our stadium and we can build on that to do great things next season.
“We got here by topping our group, going on a six-match unbeaten Europa League run, and only went out to a very difficult side like Roma. All this shows we are on the right track.
“I personally believe we were the better team over the two legs, but Roma have players of the highest level and so are able to score at the slightest error.
“I think our problem is that we didn’t take the opportunities and they did.”