Roma: De Rossi refuses to blame Karsdorp after Europa League error

Daniele De Rossi says replacing Rick Karsdorp at halftime would have been the ‘easiest way to blame somebody for the defeat’ and insists the Giallorossi didn’t lack personality against Bayer Leverkusen.

Roma suffered a home 2-0 loss against Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday in the first leg of the Europa League semi-finals.

A poor Karsdorp backpass led to the visitors’ opening goal in the first half and the Dutch defender was booed by the Olimpico crowd when he was subbed off in the second half.

Despite a disappointing performance, De Rossi refused to blame Karsdorp at a post-match press conference.

De Rossi refuses to blame Karsdorp after Europa League error

“Errors are normal; we are not going to blame anyone,” said the Giallorossi coach, as quoted by TMW.

“I will never get angry with one of my players for a bad pass. He made that error after a good defensive move. Of course, he was affected by that error and the crowd’s reaction was normal. It would have been useless to replace him at halftime, it would have been the easier way to blame somebody for the defeat. We can’t think that fans always back us. The error had an impact and now we must stay close to him.”

De Rossi insisted that his Roma side didn’t lack personality against the Germans.

“I don’t think so. It is very simplistic to talk about personality when you play against these teams,” he said.

“We tried to press high, but we had to be perfect. We had chances in the first half, but I wouldn’t say my players lacked personality.”

De Rossi had already praised Bayer during a post-match interview with DAZN last night.

The second leg will be played in Germany next week, on May 9. Roma’s next Serie A game is against Juventus at the Stadio Olimpico.