De Rossi on Lukaku, Roma credit and errors with Feyenoord | OneFootball

Daniele De Rossi explains where Romelu Lukaku needs to improve, gives the credit to Roma players and takes the blame for errors after a 1-1 draw with Feyenoord. ‘Lukaku was born scoring goals.’

The Giallorossi had fallen behind in Rotterdam against the run of play on the stroke of half-time when Igor Paixao was allowed a totally free header from six yards.

However, Romelu Lukaku nodded in the Leonardo Spinazzola cross after the break to equalise, while both teams struck the frame of the goal with Leandro Paredes and Luka Ivanusec.

“It was a difficult match, Feyenoord can cause problems when they have the ball at their feet. I always ask for my team to be aggressive, but it’s not easy against a team that moves the ball around so well,” De Rossi told Sky Sport Italia after the Europa League play-off.

“The team put in a good performance today, even though there were moments where we had to suffer under pressure.”

Lukaku confirmed his extraordinary record in the Europa League, especially important after an anonymous performance against Inter at the weekend in Serie A.

“We are talking about one of the best strikers around in that role, so it would be wrong to settle for less, but he does put the performance in and he was born scoring goals. He needs to learn how to score goals even when there’s a close man-marking job like he did tonight. I am pleased with his performance and his attitude.”

The Dutch side had taken the lead with a totally free header from six yards, so what went wrong?

“It was my mistake really, there was no time to do everything we wanted to do in training and if you concede a goal like that, it is down to the coach,” assured De Rossi.

“We had the men necessary to divide up the space in the box. It will be better also with the return of Evan Ndicka, we conceded too many goals like this and that is a sign we need to work on it.”

Considering Feyenoord famously have a very strong home record and are not the same team on their travels, this can be seen as an excellent result, especially as it was the first game De Rossi has experienced in European football as a coach.

“Coaches can give the players a few ideas and notions, but ultimately they are the ones who make the difference.”

Edoardo Bove was booked late on and will be suspended for the second leg at the Stadio Olimpico on February 22.