Roma dominates against Braga, wins 3-0 and makes a leap forward in the championship phase of the Europa League.
Mister Ranieri commented on the Giallorossi’s performance to Sky Sport.
I would start from the performance: Roma had never had so many shots on target this season, 17 times, not conceding even a single shot to Braga.
“The performance was positive, even if in some circumstances we carried too much of the ball. But that’s okay, you can’t want everything right away, the boys pushed the way I like it. They wanted to win, they tried to entertain the crowd, and the crowd has fun when you create scoring chances. Then if you score, so much the better.”
Within this collective performance, there are two different stories. One is that of Pellegrini, in whom you put your trust and he came to his senses. And the other is that of Saud, a player welcomed as a mysterious object and who tonight looked like an arrow.
“When I arrived, it was an arrow in training, and therefore it seemed a shame not to try it. I repeat, I wasn’t able to play friendlies, and therefore even in the previous matches I didn’t know whether to put him in, because I wondered how he would react. And instead he reacts well. This is good for Roma.”
And Pellegrini?
-“For Pellegrini I am happy. I saw that in training he was starting to take the goal again and I’m happy for him.”
What was the secret to being able to put everything back together in a short time?
“I talk to the guys, and I told them, ‘Help me, because I can’t do anything wrong. Always give me everything and then I will try to help you from the bench if I can do something for you.’ I believe that the important thing was to recreate self-esteem in these kids, because they cannot have forgotten how to play football, and little by little they are succeeding.
We are at the beginning of the story, at least with me, but we still have a long way to go and to improve.”
Did you expect to find a player as dominant as Kone? And what are its growth margins?
“Knowing him, having seen him on television, you could see that he was strong. Its margins? He must understand when to carry the ball and when to play two touches. In fact, I told him: ‘In the second half you started running, and instead you make the ball run, so you get the whole team moving. Little by little we’ll get there…”.
