AS Roma coach Daniele de Rossi was proud of his players in their Europa League semifinal defeat at Bayer Leverkusen.
Trailing 2-0 from the first-leg, Roma were 2-0 ahead via a penalty double from Leandro Paredes before Bayer fought back late to draw 2-2.
“It was a heroic performance, but Leverkusen are a really strong team. I thought our performances in both legs were good, we didn't have enough shots on goal and sometimes that can make the difference, but the lads were incredible," De Rossi told Sky Italia.
“Just two days ago we were giving our all until the last second against Juventus, again tonight we had to push with incredible physical and mental exertion. When you manage to get it back from 2-0 down and go close to the miracle, knowing nobody has ever beaten them this season, it hurts to see us concede a goal like that. It hurts.
“We have to keep going, maintain this spirit and play the final games of the season."
De Rossi also said: “We lost Spinazzola to injury, many have been fatigued for a while. Bayer Leverkusen and their directors did a lot of talking about how confident they were and it almost turned on its head, so you never can tell in football.
“Clearly Atalanta and Roma will be in very different moods, they are in the Europa League Final, but we didn't need that to tell us how good they were. We knew it would be tough tonight, that we'd be battling hard, but I cannot ask for anything more from these players."
