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The forward chipped over Samir Handanovic midway through the first half to give the Giallorossi the lead, only for Matias Vecino to peg things back in the final five minutes.
“Considering how the game was set up, we could perhaps have come away with more," El Shaarawy said afterwards.
"We saw two sides to Roma: in the first half we were aggressive, pressing them high, winning the ball back. After the break we dropped off, we lost some of that aggression and they took confidence from that and got the goal.”
Personally, how was your performance?
“It was a nice goal. The coach asked me to be ready to go in behind, and then Alisson played in a great ball. Of course if it had been a winning goal it would have been better.”
Was something missing physically?
“Yes, a little bit of fitness, after the break we had a bit less clarity in our way of playing. We struggled under pressure with the first balls, which we didn’t in the first half. The strength of this side is also that we know what we have to do when we have to defend, but in the last 20 minutes tonight we couldn’t quite do it.”
Now you face Sampdoria…
“We need to find a way to win. Winning today would have given us a lot of confidence, but we have to stay united as a group and all pull in the same direction."
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