De Rossi Admits Roma Underperformed Against Napoli

Roma failed to take advantage of Bologna’s slip-up against Udinese as they barely salvaged a 2-2 draw against Napoli on Sunday evening. Daniele De Rossi’s side spent most of the Derby del Sole on a back foot and were lucky to leave the Diego Maradona Stadium undefeated. 

Paulo Dybala’s penalty early in the second half gave Roma the lead, but Napoli turned the game on its head. Goals from Mathias Oliver and Victor Osimhen put Giallorossi behind heading into stoppages, but Tammy Abraham rescued a point with his first Serie A goal in a year.

If today’s fixture was a dress rehearsal for the upcoming Europa League semi-finals against Bayer Leverkusen, De Rossi can’t be satisfied. Roma looked vulnerable at the back, allowing Napoli to create numerous scoring chances. It’s incredible how they left Naples with just two goals conceded. 

Aware of a flawless performance, De Rossi admitted Roma must improve to stand a chance against the newly-crowned Bundesliga champions on Thursday.

“It is not the result and the game we wanted. Napoli are very strong, we had to be cleaner with the ball. A little better in the second half, but we need to do better and regain our strength for Thursday against a team that plays well,” the Roma boss said, as quoted by TMW.

Roma could’ve exploited Bologna’s home draw against Udinese earlier today to close the gap on Thiago Motta’s fourth-placed side. However, they should consider themselves lucky for walking away from Naples with something.