Gian Piero Gasperini feels Roma ‘actually improved as we went on’ within the Europa League, however isn’t positive if he’d name them ‘among the many favourites’ for the trophy.
It was the worst attainable begin to their match in Athens, as inside quarter-hour Gianluca Mancini had been despatched off for pulling again Milos Pantovic by the shoulder, denying a transparent goal-scoring alternative.
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Panathinaikos took the lead when Vicente Taborda pounced on a Daniele Ghilardi misplaced header again in the direction of his personal goalkeeper, however Jan Ziolkowski’s diving header late on
Gasperini impressed with Roma character
ATHENS, GREECE – JANUARY 29: Jan Ziolkowski of AS Roma celebrates scoring his workforce’s first objective through the UEFA Europa League 2025/26 League Part MD8 match between Panathinaikos FC and AS Roma at Spyros Louis on January 29, 2026 in Athens, Greece. (Picture by Milos Bicanski/Getty Photographs)
“You may criticise Roma for a lot of issues, however not the character proven by all these gamers,”
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“Incidents are decisive in soccer and we have been unfortunate on the opening objective with a header backwards, so the very best probability we had of equalising was I assumed a set play. Ziolkowski had gone near a objective earlier than and he did very well to remain up there to satisfy it.”
There was an extended record of absentees this night, the most recent being Paulo Dybala, so Roma needed to improvise, however the younger gamers stepped up.
“I’ve been working with younger gamers for many of my life, so I give them accountability. I noticed with Atalanta and now right here, the older gamers all the time have phrases of recommendation and help for the youthful parts, they actually set the instance and provides confidence to those lads.”
ATHENS, GREECE – JANUARY 29: Devyne Rensch of AS Roma applauds the followers after the UEFA Europa League 2025/26 League Part MD8 match between Panathinaikos FC and AS Roma at Spyros Louis on January 29, 2026 in Athens, Greece. (Picture by Milos Bicanski/Getty Photographs)
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It means they scrape into eighth place and , avoiding the play-offs, and received’t be again in motion till March.
“I don’t know if we’re among the many favourites or not, however now we have actually improved as we went on within the competitors, gaining confidence and expertise. It wouldn’t have been an issue for me if we had been within the play-offs, it’s solely two video games and will’ve been a invaluable alternative to check completely different gamers,” continued Gasperini.
“The place a packed schedule is an issue is accidents, as once you play so typically, they grow to be extra doubtless. That’s the solely damaging. If it was as much as be, I’d play extra and practice much less,” smiled the coach.
ROME, ITALY – JANUARY 22: AS Roma head coach Gian Piero Gasperini appears to be like on through the UEFA Europa League 2025/26 League Part MD7 match between AS Roma and VfB Stuttgart at Stadio Olimpico on January 22, 2026 in Rome, Italy. (Picture by Paolo Bruno/Getty Photographs)
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Is that this as a result of Gasperini was such a infamous taskmaster with extremely powerful coaching routines?
“I believe the gamers agree with me, they a lot want enjoying to coaching too! I’ve grow to be a lot nicer now. We play each three days anyway, more often than not our coaching classes are matches, and vice versa. The match state of affairs is the best method to enhance and check issues out.”
Roma had not managed a single draw this season, however this was their second in a row after the stalemate with Milan in Serie A.
“We’ve been scoring pretty commonly for some time, and are creating many extra possibilities. It was powerful at the moment as we have been right down to 10 males, forcing us out of place and we needed to work lots more durable, however we nonetheless obtained the consequence.”