Gasperini: ‘Roma extraordinary experience for me, we’ll discuss at end of season’

Gian Piero Gasperini gave a very open-ended reply when asked about his Roma future. ‘This has been an extraordinary experience for me, we’ll discuss it at the end of the season.’

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The Giallorossi went behind to Atalanta at the first opportunity on home turf, as Nikola Krstovic blasted in from the edge of the area, with Mario Hermoso’s volley drawing level on the stroke of half-time.

Although the hosts had the best chances to win it, forcing saves from Serie A Man of the Match Marco Carnesecchi and clipping the crossbar, they were unable to get more than a 1-1 draw.

Gasperini won’t commit future to Roma

“Carnesecchi made several great saves, Svilar too on one occasion, but we certainly tried to win it more than Atalanta,” Gasperini told Sky Sport Italia.

“The first half was very entertaining, after the break a bit of fatigue set in, so there were a few more errors, but we always tried to get the full result to the final whistle.”

This had been a big chance to leapfrog Como into fifth place after Cesc Fabregas and his team lost to Sassuolo yesterday, but instead they only catch the Lariani on 58 points, and risk falling further behind Juventus in fourth.

Roma’s dismal record in the big matches continues, scraping only seven points in matches against the other teams in the top seven.

“Sometimes like against Juventus and Napoli, we were in the lead, we did well against Milan, then at Como were down to 10 men, but the only one we lost in the second half of the season was against Inter, who are a step above. More often than not, we were closest to the victory.”

Matias Soulé and Gianluca Mancini were still visibly not at 100 per cent, while Devyne Rensch went off with a muscular problem.

“Until mid-December, we had a consistency in our line-up that allowed us to defend very well. When Malen arrived in January, we vastly improved our attack, but at the same time got weaker in defence. It was a remarkable defensive record at the start that we would’ve struggled to maintain for long,” insisted Gasperini.

It has been a difficult few days for Roma, as Gasperini and director Claudio Ranieri engaged in a very public war of words, prompting many fans to take sides and assume they cannot work together next season.

There was also some tension at the final whistle with some jeers from the crowd. He was asked outright, will the club have to choose between the coach and Ranieri?

“I was dragged into this thing, people have talked about nothing else for a week. I never replied, I will continue to not reply, as I don’t think it is a very pleasant thing for all the people in the stadium,” replied Gasperini.

“There are five games to go, we are still challenging for some important targets, and if we are four points clear of an Atalanta side who were third last season, that shows we’ve done something right. We are close to Como and Juve, we saw today Napoli lost, so I am concentrated on this situation.

“We need to end the season well, because this has been an extraordinary experience for me, having arrived here with a lot of scepticism around me, and a little rivalry.

“There is a team that continues to follow me, I am grateful to them and always will be, just as I am to the fans for what they have given me so far. As for what happens after that, these are things we will discuss at the end of the season.”