Roma got their Europa League campaign off to a winning start on Thursday, coming from behind to beat Young Boys.
After going in at the break 1-0 down having conceded a penalty, Roma turned the game around in the second half thanks to two players who wouldn’t normally be expected to score.
Full-back Bruno Peres got the equaliser, with only his fifth ever goal for the club. Then, defender Marash Kumbulla got the winner with his first strike in Roma colours.
Paulo Fonseca made a number of changes for the game, giving first starts of the season to the likes of Pau Lopez, Federico Fazio, Juan Jesus and Borja Mayoral.
Eventually, though, some of his more regular starters made an impact, as Edin Dzeko and Henrikh Mkhitaryan came off the bench to record assists.
The 2-1 win means Roma are second in Group A after one round of matches.
Here are five standout comments from Paulo Fonseca’s post-match press conference.
On rotating his squad
“We were able to rest a few players tonight and that’s useful. The main thing is to have confidence in all the players. And that’s what I have.”
On the opponents being tough
“It was a tough game, Young Boys aren’t an easy side to face. We shouldn’t forget that they beat Juventus two seasons ago. It was important to win and we did well to do that.”
On Leonardo Spinazzola being undroppable
“Spinazzola is playing really well, he’s in great form. For me he’s a very important player.”
On Pau Lopez making an important save
“It’s an important sign that players like that, who haven’t played much so far, were able to respond in the way they did. Juan Jesus, Federico Fazio and Pau haven’t played for a while – I’m pleased with the fact that they all came in and played well.”
On getting off to a winning start in Europe
“It was important to start with a win, but there are still a lot of games to go from here until the end of the group stage. It’s always important to win the first game, even more so if it happens to be an away game.”
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