Roma fell in the first leg of their Europa League semifinal against Manchester United, losing 6-2 at Old Trafford. The scoreline favored the giallorossi 2-1 going into the second half, but a United onslaught turned the balance of the match drastically. Roma, forced to use three substitutions in the first half, were left without the ability to make changes after halftime, their coach Paulo Fonseca reacted afterwards, speaking to Sky Sport:
"A heavy defeat. We played a good first half but we were unable to resist them in the second half. We were affected a good deal by the players that we lost. Diawara was having trouble. It affected everyone in this match. The second half was very difficult and unacceptable."
"An explanation? It's difficult to explain with a team who played a first half like today's. We left space open, after their third goal we didn't have the mental toughness to recover. It was difficult playing against Manchester United and especially without making substitutions."
"Does this cancel out everything we achieved in the Europa League? It's positive to have made it here, it shows that the team can fight. But in the second half there were mistakes made across the board. It was not a tactical problem, we prepared ourselves well as we showed in the first half. The player selection was logical. But we lost key players and in the second half we lacked mental toughness.
We did not react after the third goal that took something out of us. We were struggling, and without the ability to make subs it was difficult."
"My culpability? I am always the first one responsible. I want no excuses and no hiding. Two years at Roma over? We will see. Right now it's difficult to say but we need to be even-keeled in these moments. What will I tell the players ahead of the return leg? It's hard... we don't know who will be available for the next match. Now it will be important to recover our players and that's what I'm focused on."
