Gian Piero Gasperini admitted he had “great regret” after Roma’s dramatic Champions League defeat to Real Madrid.
Roma looked certain to take all three points at the Stadio Olimpico after Donyell Male’s goal gave them a 3-1 lead, but Los Blancos pulled off a stunning comeback.
Carlos Espy, Endrick and Antonio Rudiger all scored from corners within seven minutes before the German defender scored the final goal in the 90th minute.
Excluding games that went to extra time, Roma led 3-1 by the 82nd minute, this was the last time the away side had won by 2+ goals in a Champions League match.
It was also the second time Roma had lost a European Cup/Champions League match in which they led by 2+ goals – both were against Madrid (4-2 in 2004).
Roma dug deeper as the minutes ticked by and Gasperini felt his players were “paralysed with fear” when defending Arda Güler’s corners late in the game.
“They also scored corners in the first half, but in the last minutes we were paralyzed with fear in those corners, they scored very easily,” Gasperini told Sky Sport Italia and Amazon Prime Video Italia.
“There is a great regret, because the game played like this should not have ended with that epilogue.
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“We have to build on the positives, so even if this defeat is heavy, we have to shake it off quickly, otherwise we risk undoing all the good things we did in this match.
“It’s very hard to accept, but Roma certainly did a lot of good things, we destroyed it at the end. We were very passive in Real Madrid’s set pieces, we were very passive and that’s a shame.”
Malen scored twice and Matias Soule had two assists, so there were certainly positives.
Only Harry Kane (37) and Rafinha (24) have scored more European league goals than the Dutchman (23 in all competitions) since Malen’s Roma debut on January 18, while Soule is only the second Roma player to assist 2+ goals in a Champions League match.
Despite this, “Roma” has only one point from the first two games of the Champions League this season.