Former Roma manager Eusebio Di Francesco gave an extensive interview in today’s edition of Corriere dello Sport.
The former Sassuolo boss discussed his time at the club and what ultimately led to his dismissal just over one year ago.
”My dismissal following the loss to Porto? Football is like this — it’s linked to certain episodes. My sacking was linked to a set of episodes beyond the results,” he said.
“We were unlucky against Porto: we deserved to qualify. We reached the Champions League semifinal the previous season but we were unlucky because of the refereeing mistakes made in the Porto tie”.
Di Francesco also went on to rue the transfer market decisions that were made in the summer of 2018: which saw the departure of Alisson and the arrivals of Javier Pastore, Robin Olsen, Steven Nzonzi.
“Incorrect choices were made, starting with the one I regret most of all: the departures of Strootman and Nainggolan”, he admitted.
”Strootman is an extraordinary player, with his departure we lost personality. I regret not having insisted on making him stay”.
“Pastore? I don’t want to blame anyone. Even this year you can see that his only problems are physical. We didn’t have a good relationship but I can’t hold a grudge against some of his statements. His quality is not in question”.
“Monchi? We‘ve always had an excellent relationship, I have to thank him because he was one of those who wanted me at Roma. It is not easy to do well on the transfer market with having to sell Salah and Alisson. There were some situations we disagreed on, but that’s just like a family”.
“My farewell? Some of the players did everything they could to make Pallotta change his mind, who already made his decision — De Rossi being one of them. Pallotta’s Roma reached the maximum with me on the bench”.
Lastly, Di Francesco discussed club record signing Patrik Schick, who struggled with the Giallorossi ever since arriving from Sampdoria.
”He struggled in a 4-3-3. For me, he’s a center forward or a second striker. He arrived in poor condition and also had Edin Dzeko in front of him”.
