Roma boss: We must not be obsessed with Salah
ROMA boss Eusebio di Francesco has warned his players to avoid becoming obsessed with stopping Mo Salah.
The Egyptian dangerman was the architect of Liverpool’s Champions League semi-final first-leg victory.
Salah scored twice and provided two assists at Anfield to leave Roma 5-2 down and needing a miracle. But di Francesco has urged Eden Dzeko to be the hero in the return leg in the Stadio Olimpico.
Di Francesco said: “Salah made a difference in the first leg but we cannot change our whole team. We need to have better mechanisms.
“What is important is Salah is a big player on the counter, attacking the spaces, but we cannot have three players on him. We need to focus on our rivals but also ourselves.
“I feel responsible. Players have to feel responsible and I hope Dzeko does.
“I hope he can be decisive like Salah was in the first leg. I am giving him this responsibility.”
Roma pulled off a huge shock in the last round by knocking out Barcelona after losing the first leg 4-1 and now need to repeat the heroics in Rome.
They have not conceded in any of their five Champions League games this season at home and have scored eight.
Di Francesco did his best rabble-rousing speech to whip up his players and the red-hot atmosphere as he clearly believes they can pull off another incredible comeback.
He said: “In terms of the Barcelona match I would do a copy and paste like you would on Microsoft Word but in the minds of the player and physically, in order to compete against Liverpool, we need to raise the bar with physical effort.
“Then comes attitude, approach to the game and the fact we need to try to score an early goal.
“From a motivational point of view we have the desire to complete this comeback and put everything on the pitch and try and do something great and massive.”