Roma have reached the Round of 16 of the Europa League after a 3-1 win over Braga secured a 5-1 aggregate win.
Paulo Fonseca outwitted his former employers, with Edin Dzeko and Borja Mayoral both scoring in each leg of the tie. Carles Perez got the other goal in the second leg with a well-taken aerial strike.
Roma will find out on Friday who they will play in the next round, but in the meantime, coach Fonseca was able to reflect on a job well done in circumstances that were far from easy.
Here are five key comments from his post-match reaction.
On the manner of the victory
“We played well, we were secure, we won, those are the key things. And we were also able to rest a couple of players ahead of the upcoming games. I think we won convincingly.”
On players playing out of position
“With Ricky [Karsdorp] playing in centre defence it was not easy, but he did really well. The same goes for Jordan [Veretout] who also played out of position. I really like it when the players are able to make sacrifices like that for the team and still really perform.”
On having two successful strikers
“I really liked Dzeko’s performance – and Borja’s too, when he came on. I think it’s great for the team to have this competition for that striking role. They have both worked really hard and I’m really pleased with them.”
On Dzeko’s injury
“We’ll have to see what has happened. I don’t think it is anything serious, but we will have to evaluate him tomorrow.”
On whether Roma can win the Europa League
“All the sides left in the competition are really good. Right now it’s hard to pick a clear favourite. We will have to wait and see who we get in the draw tomorrow, but we want to go as far as we possibly can.”
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