Alberto De Rossi: Disappointed but my boys deserve praise

“We were just one step away from Nyon and I think we all harboured dreams of making it there,” the Roma U19s' boss admitted after the match. “We'd already cleared two big hurdles by beating Salzburg and PSV Eindhoven and my boys seemed to be in fine fettle. We're certainly a bit disappointed because we wanted to reach the semi-finals but my boys deserve nothing but praise for everything they've done thus far.”

The home side made the most of Roma's mistakes in the opening 45 minutes to score through Foude Toure and Yakou Meite, taking a 2-0 lead in at the interval.

“We let PSG have the run of the game in the first half; we really made it too easy for them. We were far too hesitant at the start. We opened ourselves up to them with too many poor passes and that got us scared. We let them in on goal four or five times in the opening 15 minutes because of simple mistakes. I think that increased the fear factor and we started thinking we weren't in the match, which in turn prevented us from playing our usual game.”

The Giallorossi did muster a reaction in the second half, though, and halved the arrears through Marco Tumminello before a 90th-minute free kick from Christopher Nkunku settled the contest

“In the second half I saw my team again. We did more running and were more aggressive. These lads have done superbly in our European campaign to get us this far, overcoming lots of obstacles such as playing the last three matches away from home – no trivial matter.

“We weren't far away from pulling off another minor miracle and perhaps we would have deserved it. It wasn't to be but we've gained a wealth of experience from this tournament and the lads have proved their worth.”

In light of Roma's second-half performance, De Rossi was left to rue what might have been had they managed to start the game differently.

“There was clearly a physical difference between the two sides today but then I look at our magnificent second-half display and I wonder. In the second period, even on a heavy pitch, we looked like the normal Roma. We didn't manage that in the opening half and I think it was just all those early mistakes that put the frighteners on us.”