Gasperini: ‘Roma not setting priority, Malen situation is very rare’
Gian Piero Gasperini insists Roma are not prioritising Serie A ahead of the Europa League clash with Bologna, despite an injury crisis in attack. ‘Donyell Malen’s situation is very rare.’
It kicks off at the Stadio Dall’Ara on Thursday at 17.45 GMT (18.45 CET).
The second leg will be at the Stadio Olimpico next week, as we know only one Italian team will make it to the quarter-finals of the tournament.
It is confirmed that the Giallorossi will be without suspended Gianluca Mancini, plus injured Matias Soulé, Paulo Dybala, Artem Dovbyk and Evan Ferguson, but Mario Hermoso is included in the list.
Gasperini has reduced Roma options
“We’ll see tomorrow, at the moment Hermoso is available and could play, but he’s been out for a while, so we’ll see if it’s from the start or off the bench,” explained Gasperini in his press conference.
“At least one Italian team will get through for sure. It’s true the trend for Italian teams in Europe has not been good this season, even worse if we add in the Nazionale struggles, so evidently it’s not a coincidence.
“We all need to dig deep and explain what the problem is, the coaches, clubs, and probably the media too. It’s not about a tactical issue, there’s something deeper that probably stems from the youth academies and the way teams are built.”
Considering he has won the Europa League with Atalanta, but also that Roma have a Serie A battle with Como this weekend for fourth place, which is the priority for them?
“Every game is important, we cannot make calculations, but take them one at a time trying to give our best in each one,” replied the coach.
“The priority is both competitions, perhaps a few weeks ago we also had the Coppa Italia and therefore saw Serie A as the priority, but we never thought about just letting anything go.
“I don’t see any way of giving less in a match situation. It’s possible we won’t play as well in some games as others, but it won’t be by choice.”
The January signings have made a big impact, most notably striker Malen, who will finally get to play in the Europa League with Roma after he was cup-tied for the league phase due to his time with Aston Villa.
“We are scoring more goals, the trend is positive thanks also to the arrival of Malen, who has made us more dangerous in attack,” confirmed Gasperini.
“We have certainly lost several important players in attack, but Malen has given us something extra. Bryan Zaragoza needs time to adapt, he’s only been here for a month, so the situations like Malen who hit the ground running in a new team are very rare.
“With both Dybala and Soulé out, we have had to rotate players in those support roles. Lorenzo Pellegrini has played there most consistently, but Lorenzo Venturino, Robinio Vaz and Stephan El Shaarawy can all play there.”
Has Gasperini spoken to Pellegrini about his future, with the contract running down?
“No, this is not something we need to discuss now, as it’s a fundamental stage of the season, and we need to focus on the pitch.”
Could Malen and Vaz even start together tomorrow?
“Anything is possible,” smiled the coach.