Ivan Juric remains ‘positive’ despite failing to win on his UEFA Europa League debut with Roma on Thursday night. The Giallorossi squandered a narrow halftime lead in a hard-fought 1-1 home draw against Athletic Bilbao.
Juric got his Roma tenure off to a flying start as his side trounced Udinese 3-0 at the Stadio Olimpico last weekend to post their first win in Serie A this season. When Artem Dovbyk fired the Italian powerhouse 1-0 up at the break, it looked like a second consecutive victory could be on the cards.
However, Juric’s conservative second-half approach backfired on Roma as Ernesto Valverde’s men found an 85th-minute equalizer to take a point in the capital. Despite wasting a glorious chance to make a winning start to their third successive Europa League campaign, Roma players didn’t disappoint their new manager.
“I saw moments of great football, but Athletic are more accustomed to this type of long ball game and wouldn’t even allow us to press them in the second half. Despite that, they didn’t really create many chances other than the goal,” Juric told Sky Sport Italia, as reported by Gianluca Di Marzio.
Juric rued missed chances, urging his charges to be more clinical in front of goal.
“It’s a pity, as we created opportunities and did not take them, including the one with Soulé in the second half. We were punished for not making the most of those chances, we should’ve been more clinical, but I saw a lot of positives,” the newly-appointed Roma boss stated.
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