Roma vice-captain Gianluca Mancini reiterated the squad’s loyalty to under-fire manager Ivan Juric amid a rotten patch. The 28-year-old spoke to the media after his game-opener against Royale Union Saint-Gilloise counted for just a point on Thursday night.
Despite taking the lead midway through the second half, Roma slumped to a 1-1 draw in Belgium, suffering another setback in the early UEFA Europa League campaign. With just one win from four matches, their hopes of securing automatic knockout qualification are in tatters.
The situation doesn’t look much better in Serie A. Stranded in the bottom half of the standings following a 3-2 defeat at Hellas Verona last weekend, Roma could be staring down the barrel of another season without a top-four finish.
Unless Juric can turn his side’s fortunes around quickly and somehow whittle down an eight-point deficit on fourth-placed Fiorentina, he could soon follow in the footsteps of his predecessor, Daniele De Rossi. Indeed, the Croat’s future at Roma is under heavy scrutiny, although Mancini insists the player trust their manager.
“Juric still has the team in his hands, certainly,” the experienced defender said, as reported by Gianluca Di Marzio. “We follow him. We try to do what he asks and what he prepares to the best of our abilities.“
Mancini also touched on Mats Hummels’ early struggles at Roma.
“I’m an admirer of Mats because I’m younger than him. I saw him at the bar with my friends during the Champions League final. I spontaneously call him ‘the professor’ because, just by looking at him, you can tell he’s a champion.
“He’s integrated very well into the group. He’s a true leader. Even if he plays little, he’s always positive and talks a lot with us, trying to motivate us,” the Roma center-back was adamant.
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