The Roma midfielder, scorer of the useless brace in the Europa League semi-final against Bayer Leverkusen, reveals the reason for his disappointing season with Juventus
LEVERKUSEN (GERMANY) – For 82 minutes there Rome cherishes the dream of overturning the first leg defeat (2-0) in the Europa League semi-final against Bayer Leverkusen, then theMancini’s own goal brings the German champions back to the surface and in the 97th minute they also equalise Stanisic and extend the season’s unbeaten run to 49 games. Yet the Giallorossi had managed to restore the balance thanks to the two penalty kicks converted by Leandro Paredes, very cold from the spot. At the end of the match, the Argentine midfielder expressed all his bitterness: “We had the match in our hands, unfortunately with Mancini’s own goal we were forced to move forward and leave a lot of space. We put in everything we had, we made a great effort and a great match. But unfortunately we go home with our hands empty”.
Paredes on the season at Juve
The training of Daniele De Rossi must now try to reach the Champions League position and on Sunday at 8.45pm they will visit Atalanta at the Gewiss Stadium in the direct clash: “We have to think about Atalanta from tomorrow and do the best we can in these three matches. The tiredness is there, but now the mental aspect is more important. Sunday’s match is the most important of the year.” On his performance this season after a lackluster year at Juventus he reveals: “I arrived at Juve at a time when I wasn’t well. It went like this and I’m sorry because I wanted to do better. Now I’m focused on the present and I hope to continue helping the team like this.”
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