Paulo Fonseca thanked his Roma players for pushing through the pain barrier to get “three very, very important points” against Milan.
Edin Dzeko and Nicolò Zaniolo pounced on defensive errors around a Theo Hernandez strike to secure the 2-1 victory, despite a lengthy list of absentees.
There was also added fatigue, as the Giallorossi had played a 1-1 Europa League draw with Borussia Monchengladbach on Thursday night.
“The players put in a good performance and fought hard, but it’s not easy at the moment to play three games in a week, so they really deserved this,” the coach told Sky Sport Italia.
“Zaniolo had a great game, scored an important goal for us and we have three very, very important points for the team.”
Alessandro Florenzi was on the bench and remained there, even after Leonardo Spinazzola limped off.
“When Spinazzola felt the muscular problem, I thought we needed to defend well, especially against a quick player like Rafael Leao on the left. Cetin has more pace and is more of a defender, he’s also more physical, so the thought was to defend at that moment.”
Javier Pastore has been playing more than expected lately because of the injury crisis, but this evening had one of his best games in a Giallorossi jersey.
“We cannot forget there are three games in a week for Pastore, but he showed his quality and professionalism this evening.”
Roma are only one point adrift of Napoli and fourth place, despite the injury crisis.
“At this moment, we just have to take it one game at a time. We’ll look at the table later on, positions aren’t important right now.”
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