Stephan El Shaarawy believes Roma only have themselves to blame after a disappointing defensive display in the first leg of their Europa League tie against Lyon ultimately proved costly.
Roma triumphed 2-1 in Thursday’s return match at Stadio Olimpico, but Lyon’s 4-2 victory in the opening game proved enough to send the Ligue 1 side through to the quarter-finals 5-4 on aggregate.
And despite playing a key part in his side’s attempted fightback with a fine individual performance, El Shaarawy took no joy from winning on the night.
“We have little to complain about because of the first leg – we conceded four goals and that was too many,” he told Roma’s official website.
“We did what we had to do [in the second leg] and in the end we missed only one more goal. We have spent so much effort and so much aggression but unfortunately it went wrong.”
Roma are now only challenging on two fronts – they sit second in Serie A and are 2-0 down to city rivals Lazio in the Coppa Italia semi-final ahead of next month’s second leg.
He added: “We really believed in the Europa League, but now we must put aside this match, continue to do well in the championship and try the comeback against Lazio.
“This is a strong team that from January of last year has won a great number of games.
“We must start from this victory even if it is not enough. We are confident about the end of the season.”
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