And now who tells the over 2,000 Roma fans who have already booked flights and hotels for Germany that next Thursday’s match in Cologne risks being a long agony? Maybe no one has to tell him because if there’s one thing that Roma supporters know how to do better than anyone else, it’s never being slaves to the result. And then, in Leverkusen in a week, it will still be a Giallorossi invasion, perhaps the last of these two beautiful – whatever happens – Roma’s European seasons. Who knows if the 65 thousand at the Olimpico will sleep tonight and who knows if he will sleep Daniele De Rossi, that he had also prepared the match very well because in the first half hour Roma were there in every sense: lungs, head, heart and legs. Lukaku’s crossbar was the reflection of a team that believed in it, that believed in it, that entered the pitch with the belief that the unbeatable could be beaten. And Bayer was accusing: although dangerous on the restart, it was clear that his legs were heavier than usual. Karsdorp’s mistake changed everything because, having fallen behind, Roma didn’t have the physical and mental strength to react. Mourinho wasn’t crazy, a year ago, to say that this was not a team built for two competitions and, both in 2022 and 2023, he made a choice: the cup first, the championship then. He took home a final and a cup.
Roma, the worst against Bayer Leverkusen
De Rossi was unable – and did not want – to make this choice and in the end, on the most important night, he was betrayed by his players. They tried their hardest, without a doubt, but that was very little: Karsdorp’s mistake, Lukaku and Dybala never making an impact, Pellegrini very tired, Smalling never living up to his name, Abraham devouring the goal of hope. All experience, for De Rossi, not for the players: they were coming from two finals in a row and perhaps they should have been the ones, for once, to drive the young coach. They didn’t make it.
