“Our opponents were further ahead in their preparation, but there are no excuses. We could have done better,” declared Rudi Garcia as he spoke to the media after Roma’s 2-0 defeat to Sporting Clube de Portugal at the Estadio José Alvalade tonight.
The Giallorossi coach gave his take on the match, which saw new arrival Wojciech Szczesny make his debut in the Roma goal: “For me, there is no number one or number two between him and Morgan De Sanctis. We have two fantastic keepers, like all great teams.”
Rudi, after the impressive draws in Australia, you’ve slipped to a defeat tonight…
“You could see the differences in terms of preparation tonight but that’s to be expected. We were facing an excellent side that will be contesting the Super Cup against their cross-town rivals in just one week’s time. At the start of the match we struggled, but then grew into the game after the break – although we never really threatened. Our best chance fell to Francesco Totti with the scores at 0-0. After that, I made some changes to manage the playing time, but it’s not easy to come into these types of games because you need to get up to speed and they were much better in that respect. These are not excuses though – we could have done better.”
Why didn’t Torosidis and Doumbia play?
“Because we have lots of players and the roster isn’t definitive yet. In the next few days we’ll be able to work with the group that will begin the league season.”
How would you rate Szczesny’s debut?
“He’s not worked with us much, but I wanted to do two things tonight – show my faith in De Sanctis by playing him from the start and give Szczesny a run-out too. We’re lucky enough to have two excellent goalkeepers, like all great sides. It’s a very good thing for Roma. I think they’re equal – there is no number one and number two.”
What do you think about Sporting?
“They have a clear playing philosophy, with some very quick offensive players. I’d told the players about these threats so they knew we’d have to work hard. Sporting have to go through a play-off to get into the Champions League group stages and I know that’ll be tough because I’ve been there – it all comes down to the draw. I think they can achieve big things in Portugal and in Europe.”
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