De Rossi clarifies Pioli comment and responds to doubters: 'Everyone thought Milan would crush us'

Roma head coach Daniele De Rossi sent a message to those who wrote his side off against AC Milan, while he also clarified a comment he made in the build-up.

Milan’s Europa League run was ended at the quarter-final stage as they lost the second leg 2-1 against Roma, meaning they deservedly went out 3-1 on aggregate.

Roma seized absolute control of the tie with two early goals. The first came when Gianluca Mancini – who scored the only goal in the first leg – reacted quickest to a rebound off the bar to fire home, then Paulo Dybala’s excellent strike doubled the lead on the night.

Mehmet Celik saw red for a nasty challenge on Rafael Leao and yet Milan just could not make the man advantage count. The only goal they managed came via Matteo Gabbia’s late header in an otherwise dreadful performance.

De Rossi spoke in his post-match press conference to reflect on a very successful night for his side, and his comments were transcribed by TMW.

Was the Olimpico a strength?

“The Olimpico was magnificent, but it’s been like this for many years. In matches like these we need them. The fans can’t win the matches, but when there is

Bayer Leverkusen celebrated learning they would have Roma in the semi-final, how do you respond?

“I haven’t seen it. I wouldn’t like to comment, maybe it’s just a sense of revenge because they went out against us last year. Xabi Alonso has always been a gentleman as a footballer and I think he is even today. I still have great respect for him.”

How did the game go and what changed with Celik’s red card?

“It was a difficult match like the first leg. In my opinion, Milan played two good games between the first leg and the second leg. We produced two balanced games that everyone thought weren’t balanced. Celik’s red card I won’t judge because I only saw one replay, I guess we had to play a different game and we did it.”

Fifth place in Serie A will play in the Champions League, can you start doing some rotation?

“So what do we do? Do we rest against Bologna, Atalanta, Napoli and Juventus? Anyone who wants to aspire to complete a comeback like ours knows that they must be ready. The good thing is that these matches bring stimuli in themselves.”

How is Lukaku?

“I think he stopped in time, that’s what he told me.”