Monchi dedicated Roma’s 3-0 win against Barcelona on Tuesday to Coach Eusebio Di Francesco. “It’s also his victory.”
Di Francesco took a huge gamble in the Champions League quarter-final second leg, lining his Roma team up in a 3-4-1-2 formation, but his decision paid off as the Giallorossi sensationally overturned their 4-1 deficit.
“It’s a night to remember, first of all for the fans. They’re all happy for Roma,” the sporting director told Roma TV after the game.
“Football was fair Roma, there were many incidents and they weren’t fair. The punishment we received in Barcelona wasn’t fair.
“Roma played at an incredible level, and what we did today started in Barcelona. We thought that if we didn’t have our injuries, we could’ve won there.
“De Rossi and Manolas were the ones who scored, yet they scored own goals [at Camp Nou]. Strange things like those happen. Fate is like that.
“Di Francesco? We made the right choice. He was convinced [about the comeback]. I spoke to him last night, and he told me he wanted to change formation and send a message of confidence to the team.
“The result arrived, and it’s also a victory for the Coach, who made a difficult decision, which could’ve been criticised.
“It’s important for the faith we have in Di Francesco. Now we’re all convinced that we have the best Coach we could possible have.
“When we left Barcelona, we went crazy. Now we must believe in ourselves.”
Monchi added in the mixed zone:
“When did I start believing? When the referee whistled to end the game!
“All jokes aside, it’s true that when we scored our second goal, I thought the third was going to come. The fans also believed, and that pushed the team on.
“Semi-finals? I don’t think it’s the right time to be thinking about this. Instead, we should be thinking about the team, the staff and the fans.
“It makes us very happy on a personal level. I was lucky enough to experience amazing moments with Sevilla, and this is perhaps the first time I have with Roma. Maybe there’ll be many more days like this one.
“Do we believe in the CL now? We’re one of the four teams that can play in the Final, so why not?
“Montella and Sevilla? I hope Sevilla can do something similar tomorrow, like we did today. I know it’s difficult, but it was also difficult for us.
“Roma-Liverpool? Maybe in a Final! Salah? He scored didn’t he?”
