Pellegrini rues second half struggles

Captain on the day, Pellegrini scored and assisted in the first half at Old Trafford to give the Giallorossi the lead – only for a second half spate of goals to leave the team with a lot to do in next week’s second leg.

“I don’t blame the team,” Pellegrini said.

“We played really well in the first half, but then after the break I don’t know what happened. It’s difficult to say anything right now.

“I can say to the fans that in the second leg we will try everything we can. We prepared for this game like it was the match of our lives. And we will absolutely do that again for the second leg.

“Until the referee blows that whistle three times next week, we will keep on fighting.”

From injuries – which prevented Roma from making any second half substitutions – to a dubious second half penalty decision for United, the Giallorossi were not blessed with much good luck on the night.

“At the end of the first half we told ourselves we needed to keep fighting until the end – we were doing well even if it is never easy to play here,” Pellegrini added.

“But then so many things happened, it’s complicated to go through it.

“The evaluations you can make only when it's all over. We are not yet out of the Europa League. We know it will be tough to come back, but we will try.”

Bryan Cristante was more blunt in his assessment.

“When you go behind and try and get back on terms, it’s enough for two or three things to go against you and a game can finish like this,” he said.

“Clearly we made some mistakes, we will have to go back to Rome and watch the game back. You can’t have a second half like that, where we threw away all the good we managed in the first half.

“There’s nothing to take from the second half.”