Gasperini proud of Roma draw: ‘Milan always dangerous, even when seemingly dominated’

Gian Piero Gasperini insists Roma ‘deserve credit’ for their 1-1 draw with second-placed Milan. ‘They are always dangerous, even when you think that you’re dominating them.’

It was starting to feel like a repeat of the frustrating night that the Giallorossi had at San Siro in early November, when they wasted numerous scoring opportunities including a Paulo Dybala penalty and lost 1-0.

Koni De Winter nodded in a Luka Modric cross from a short corner to open the scoring here, but this time Lorenzo Pellegrini did manage to beat Mike Maignan from the spot.

“Both our first-choice penalty takers had come off, who were Dybala and Malen, so we asked ourselves who would do it and assumed Cristante, but Pellegrini stepped up and did very well,” Gasperini told DAZN Italia.

Luka Modric said afterwards that Roma dominated the first half, but without the penalty, he doubts they would’ve scored the equaliser.

“When Milan take the lead, they become very dangerous on the counter, especially with fresh legs from Pulisic and Fullkrug,” agreed Gasperini.

“Having said that, if we had lost this match, it would’ve been a really bitter blow. If we had gone in front, we’d have had a great chance of winning it.”

Donyell Malen and Robinio Vaz arrived in the January window, giving more versatility for the attacking positions.

“Malen is an extraordinary player in that role as a centre-forward, he will get better fitness levels as he goes on. Against a very deep Milan defence today, he did some remarkable things with his movement, we are convinced he is a great signing.

“This is a very young squad, I thought we were aiming for Under-25s, but I think we might have a very strong selection of Under-20s at this rate,” joked Gasperini.

“We were up against the team that is second in the Serie A table and we leave this game feeling stronger.”

Milan are famous for their dangerous counter-attacks, so after taking the lead they were in a position to do further damage, but the Roma defence held firm.

“We deserve credit for that, because Milan have such great sprinters like Leao, Pulisic, Nkunku, even Rabiot. They are always dangerous, even when you think that you’re dominating them. We’ve seen many times Milan were on the verge of losing and then went on to win.

“My defence this season is extraordinary, and allowing Milan so little tonight is a sign of our effort and determination.”

There was more bad news for the medical staff, as Manu Kone limped off with a suspected right flexor strain just shy of the hour mark.

Mario Hermoso is also out for at least a month, but Daniele Ghilardi impressed in the back three this evening.

“He did very well against Stuttgart too on Thursday. Ghilardi has improved exponentially from the start of the season, when he alternated good qualities with bad timing. He has matured and has more balance,” noted Gasperini.

“When there are such young players, five or six months of work really make a difference to their evolution.”

This is the first stalemate of Gasperini’s entire Roma tenure, after 19 victories and 10 defeats between Serie A, the Europa League and Coppa Italia.

It allows Roma to catch Napoli in joint third place, but they are now nine points adrift of leaders Inter.

Perhaps more importantly, Juventus are just one point behind them in fifth, with Como also now in the fight for those Champions League spots.