Gasperini jokes about Roma title dreams and calls for referees’ ‘clarity’

Gian Piero Gasperini jokes about Roma’s title dreams but expects more ‘clarity’ from referees after seeing a Matias Soulé goal disallowed.

Gasperini’s Roma returned to the top of the table on Wednesday, beating Parma 2-1 at the Stadio Olimpico in a mid-week Serie A fixture.

“Three important and good points. We struggled, especially in the opening 30 minutes, because we always take some time to take the appropriate measurements,” Gasperini told DAZN.

“We need to work on this, but when we fixed things, we played well, we didn’t concede much and created opportunities.”

Evan Ferguson started the game, but picked up an ankle injury after just seven minutes. He was replaced by Leon Bailey, but the Jamaica international was also subbed off during the break.

Roma’s main target is to qualify for the Champions League this season, but now that they have caught Napoli at the top of the table again, have they changed their objectives?

“Yes, we were supposed to train tomorrow afternoon, but we’ll train in the morning instead,” joked Gasperini.

“Then we train again on Friday morning, Saturday afternoon and then on Sunday we go to Milan. If we win, we’ll remain at the top; if not, we have to hope for the others,” he added, smiling.

DAZN pundits noted that Roma look so in control of games that they can turn things in their favour quite easily, but Gasp didn’t quite agree.

“Yes, even if what happened at the end of the first half was not exactly in our favour,” he said.

“There was a disallowed goal, and we have to understand the rules. They’ll have to explain to us, because we saw exactly the same thing in the past. So either this was a mistake, which is acceptable, or the others were mistakes. There can’t be different interpretations. We expect clarity.”

Soulé had scored a goal in the first half, but it was disallowed as Zeki was offside and considered involved in active play in front of Parma goalkeeper Zion Suzuki.

Mario Hermoso and Artem Dovbyk scored the goals for Roma today.

“Hermoso came from a long injury; he made the pre-season with us and had a positive impact with me, in the way he trains and behaves,” said Gasperini.

“He had been playing at the highest levels with Atletico Madrid for years; he has knowledge and great determination. Surely, he is not only valuable from a defensive standpoint, but also technically. We are lucky to have him in the team.

“It seems to me that Dovbyk has been improving physically in recent weeks,” continued the Roma coach.

“If he had scored those penalties and some other big chances against Inter and Fiorentina, he would have already netted a few goals. He scored a beautiful one today. He was more involved against Sassuolo. We work with him and give him all the necessary trust. I’m happy with all these lads. We are working on all of them. Daniele Ghilardi also made his debut today. We have many players, but all can find space.”